Research and Development of A Portable Impedance Measurement System Utilizing AD5941 Analog Integrated Circuit for A549 Lung Cancer Cell Detection

In this study, an impedance measurement system based on AD5941 analog integrated circuit was designed and developed to detect adenocarcinoma cells (A549). The system consists of four main blocks: center processing block, measurement circuit, sensor connector, and communication. For target cell separation and enrichment from a complex sample, dielectrophoresis (DEP) manipulation method was utilized in this work. A microfluidic chip based on the DEP effect has been fabricated on the ITO substrate by the standard photolithography process. A549 lung cancer cells with an average diameter of 15 µm were fixed on denatured glass through DEP force and aptamer conjugation. The proposed system was then connected to the microfluidic chip to measure the impedance before and after the capture of A549 cells. The experimental results demonstrated a gradual decrease in impedance between the two electrodes within the microfluidic chip following each step of the glass surface modification process, as well as upon successful capture of A549 cells. The results of the proposed system were similar to those recorded on a commercial impedance analyzer. With the achieved results, this proposed platform can serve as a valuable reference not only in the field of cell detection but also in other related fields of biology and medicine.