The Bionas DiscoveryTM 2500 system enables the real-time monitoring of the effect of compounds on cancer metabolism and cellular adhesion from minutes to days, including potential regeneration after withdrawal of the test compound to test the reversibility of drug effects in the same assay. Measured parameters include:
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extracellular acidification rate as a measure of glycolysis,
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O2 consumption as a measure of mitochondrial respiration,
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and the cellular impedance, a measure of adhesion/confluence and membrane integrity.
The parameters are monitored without the use of any label in real-time on tumor cell lines, primary cells or organotypic tissue culture such as tumor slices for chemosensitivity and chemoresistance as well as the dependency and responsiveness of cancer cells on glucose ( Warburg effect*) and potential therapies.
(*) In addition to the metabolic parameters, impedance measurement allows the cells ability to spread out from cell clusters or to monitor morphological changes of cells in real time.*In contrast to normal differentiated cells, which rely primarily on mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation to generate the energy needed for cellular processes, most cancer cells instead rely on aerobic glycolysis, this phenomenon is called the Warburg effect . (Further reading: Understanding the Warburg effect: The metabolic requirements of cell proliferation, Vander Helden, MG et. Al, Science 22 May 2009, Vol. 432 no 5930, pp. 1029-1033)
Monitoring of the cellular response of human colon carcinoma cells
