Long-term monitoring of Caco-2 cell growth process using a QCM-cell system

More recently, the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) has been used to investigate the process by which mammalian cells attach to the solid electrode of the quartz sensor and spread. We have used a QCM-cell system containing three operating modes, amplitude, impedance and trans epithelial electric resistance (TEER) analysis, to investigate the attachment and spreading of Caco-2 cells. Our QCM-cell system had a resonant frequency and amplitude of quartz every 3 s, generating an external frequency scanning range from 8.9 MHz to 9.1 MHz, with cycling every 12 h, and the resistance of TEER measured every 10 min. These materials were fabricated to monitor the growth conditions of Caco-2 cells. We found that the frequency decreased rapidly from 24 to 48 h, becoming stable during Caco-2 cell adhesion. A marked change in frequency was observed if the medium was not changed, increasing to 600 Hz within 24 h after day 7. In addition, the amplitude increased and the TEER value decreased during cell death. Finally, we used this system to monitor Caco-2 cells during treatment with trypsin–EDTA.