Signal change of surface acoustic wave (SAW) caused by H2O2 damage to SV40-T2 cells cultivated on SH-SAW sensor

We developed a cellular biosensing system based on the direct assembly of rat- or human-cultured cells onto a shear horizontal-surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) device. This novel design enables the sensitive monitoring of changes in physical cell-characteristics, such as viscosity or density inside the cells. In our system, the change of phase of SAW and insertion loss was observed to be time-dependent when the rat lung epithelial cells were treated with 1.0 mM H2O2. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed the disappearance of the zonula occludens protein from the cell–cell contact region. Furthermore, the transepithelial electrical resistance of the cells gradually decreased owing to this treatment. These results suggest the correlation between the change of SH-SAW phase, the insertion loss of the SH-SAW parameter, and the destruction of the tight junction of the cells on SH-SAW devices.