Porous Substrate-Based Electroporation with Transepithelial Electrical Impedance Monitoring

Summary

Porous substrate electroporation (PSEP) pairs consistent, high throughput delivery with high cell viability. Introduction of transepithelial electrical impedance (TEEI) measurements provides insight into the intermediate processes of PSEP and allows for label-free delivery. This article discusses a method for performing PSEP delivery experiments and TEEI measurement analysis simultaneously.

Abstract

Porous substrate electroporation (PSEP) is an emerging method of electroporation that provides high throughput and consistent delivery. Like many other types of intracellular delivery, PSEP relies heavily on fluorescent markers and fluorescent microscopy to determine successful delivery. To gain insight into the intermediate steps of the electroporation process, a PSEP platform with integrated transepithelial electrical impedance (TEEI) monitoring was developed. Cells are cultured in commercially available inserts with porous membranes. After a 12 h incubation period to allow for the formation of a fully confluent cell monolayer, the inserts are placed in transfection media located in the wells of the PSEP device. The cell monolayers are then subjected to a user-defined waveform, and delivery efficiency is confirmed through fluorescent microscopy. This workflow can be significantly enhanced with TEEI measurements between pulsing and fluorescent microscopy to collect additional data on the PSEP process, and this additional TEEI data is correlated with delivery metrics such as delivery efficiency and viability. This article describes a protocol for performing PSEP with TEEI measurements.

Introduction

Electroporation is a technique in which cells are exposed to an electric field, creating temporary pores in the cell membrane through which cargos, including proteins, RNA, and DNA, can pass^1,2. The most widely used version is bulk electroporation (BEP). BEP is performed by filling a cuvette with an electrolyte containing millions of cells, exposing the electrolyte to high voltage, and allowing cargo to enter the cells through diffusion or endocytosis¹. There are many advantages to BEP, including high throughput and numerous commercially available systems. However, there are limitations....

Protocol

The details of the reagents and the equipment used in the study are listed in the Table of Materials.

1. Preparation of reagents and cell culture

1. Prepare the cell culture media by adding 50 mL of fetal bovine serum (FBS) and 5 mL of penicillin-streptomycin to a 500 mL container of Dulbecco's Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM). Produce eleven 50 mL aliquots to reduce the risk of contamination and refrigerate at 4 °C.
2. Create 1 mL of 25 &.......

Discussion

Figure 2C demonstrates that TEEI increases from minimum and decreases from baseline are plotted for each PSEP waveform voltage. The TEEI increase creates a parabolic arc, peaking around 20 volts before reducing, while the TEEI decrease from baseline increases exponentially as voltage increases. The delivery efficiency and death percentages in Figure 2D mirror these trends, with delivery efficiency arcing parabolically, peaking around 30 volts, and death increasi.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
15 mL Conical Centrifuge Tube	Thermo Scientific	339651
2-Chip Disposable Hemocytometer	Bulldog Bio	DHC-N01
75 cm2 Tissue Culture Flask	fisherbrand	FB012937
A431 Cells	ATCC	CRL-1555
Calcein AM	Invitrogen	C3099
Class II Type A2 Biosafety Cabinet	Labgard	NU-543-600
Custom Components	YangLab		https://github.com/YangLabUNL/PSEP-TEEI
Disposable Centrifuge Tube (50 mL)	fisherbrand	05-539-6
DMEM	Gibco	11965092
Fetal Bovine Serum	Gibco	A5670401
Fluid Aspiration System	vacuubrand	20727403
HERACELL 240i	Thermo Scientific	51026331
Hoechst 33342	Thermo Scientific	62249
Human Plasma Fibronectin	Sigma-Aldrich	FIBRP-RO
Inverted Fluorescent Microscope	Zeiss	491916-0001-000
Inverted Microscope	Labomed	TCM 400
PBS	cytiva	SH30256.02
PCR Tube 200 µL	Sarstedt	72.737
Penicillin / Streptomycin	Gibco	15140148
Pipette (0.2-2 µL)	fisherbrand Elite	FBE00002
Pipette (100-1000 µL)	fisherbrand Elite	FBE01000
Pipette (20-200 µL)	fisherbrand Elite	FBE00200
Pipette (2-20 µL)	fisherbrand Elite	FBE00020
Propidium Iodide	Invitrogen	P1304MP
Reaction Tube 1.5 mL	Sarstedt	72.690.300
Sorvall ST 16R Centrifuge	Thermo Scientific	75004240
Thincert (24-well)	Greiner Bio-One	662 641	0.4 µm pore diameter, 2x106 cm-2 pore density, transparent PET
Tissue Culture Plate (24-well)	fisherbrand	FB012929
Trypan Blue Solution	Sigma-Aldrich	T8154-20mL
Trypsin	Gibco	15090046