A high throughput photosensitive polymer cantilever integrated with microelectrode array for drug-induced cardiac toxicity screening

This paper presents a high throughput photosensitive polymer cantilever device for real time monitor of drug-induced cardiac toxicity screening. The cantilever device comprises micro-grooves and 3×3 microelectrode array on top of its surface. The optimized micro-grooves facilitate alignment of cardiomyocytes and thus greatly increase the contraction force generated by the cardiomyocytes. Furthermore, the 3×3 microelectrode array is utilized to record the extracellular impedance of the cardiomyocytes. This method employed to measure both the mechanical and electrical performances of cardiomyocytes was put forward for the first time. The fabricated photosensitive polymer cantilever integrated with microelectrode array is effective to embody the contraction force and impedance of cardiomyocytes simultaneously. We demonstrate that the proposed device has the ability to identify the relationship between contraction force and cell impedance. The assay results indicate that the combining effect of contraction force and cell impedance provides a depth understanding of the drug effect on cardiomyocytes.