Electrochemical Impedance Characterization of Cell Growth on Reduced Graphene Oxide–Gold Nanoparticles Electrodeposited on Indium Tin Oxide Electrodes

Abstract

The improved binding ability of graphene–nanoparticle composites to proteins or molecules can be utilized to develop new cell-based assays. In this study, we fabricated reduced graphene oxide–gold nanoparticles (rGO-AuNP) electrodeposited onto a transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and investigated the feasibility of the electrochemical impedance monitoring of cell growth. The electrodeposition of rGO–AuNP on the ITO was optically and electrochemically characterized in comparison to bare, rGO-, and AuNP-deposited electrodes. The cell growth on the rGO–AuNP/ITO electrode was analyzed via electrochemical impedance measurement together with the microscopic observation of HEK293 cells transfected with a green fluorescent protein expression vector. The results showed that rGO–AuNP was biocompatible and induced an increase in cell adherence to the electrode when compared to the bare, AuNP-, or rGO-deposited ITO electrode. At 54 h cultivation, the average and standard deviation of the saturated normalized impedance magnitude of the rGO–AuNP/ITO electrode was 3.44 ± 0.16, while the value of the bare, AuNP-, and rGO-deposited ITO electrode was 2.48 ± 0.15, 2.61 ± 0.18, and 3.01 ± 0.25, respectively. The higher saturated value of the cell impedance indicates that the impedimetric cell-based assay has a broader measurement range. Thus, the rGO–AuNP/ITO electrode can be utilized for label-free and real-time impedimetric cell-based assays with wider dynamic range.