Services
The Hepatology Department offers services in
Electric Cell substrate Impedance Sensing (ECIS)
The ECIS Z\(theta\) system is a high throughput, real time, non invasive system capable of measuring total impedance over time within a cell culture and then deconvolving this data into biologically relevant components measuring specifically; tight junctions (Rb), adhesion (a) and overall membrane integrity (Cm). This is achieved by measuring impedance on a multiple frequency setting which can identify the different pathways the current can take.
This technique is particularly suited to assessing toxicity of novel or existing compounds. Within the Hepatology laboratory we have used this technique to assess toxicity of paracetamol and chlorpromazine on the human hepatic cell line HepaRGs. (See: Gamal et al., 2017 - Low-dose acetaminophen induces early disruption of cell-cell tight junctions in human hepatic cells and mouse liver. https://www.nature.com/articles/srep37541 & Morgan et al., 2019 Chlorpromazine toxicity is associated with disruption of cell membrane integrity and initiation of a pro-inflammatory response in the HepaRG hepatic cell line https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2019.01.020)
If you would like to know more about testing compounds using ECIS technology please contact Katie.Morgan@ed.ac.uk
