title: Electrical impedance as a novel biomarker of myotube atrophy and hypertrophy.
abstract: Measuring myotube thickness is a physiological and unbiased approach for screening therapeutic compounds that prevent skeletal muscle atrophy or induce hypertrophy. However, an accurate cell thickness estimate is often quite challenging because of the extreme heterogeneity of the myotube cellular population and therefore the lack of a regular distribution of perturbed myotubes. Here the authors present a novel method to evaluate changes in myotube thickness via measuring cellular electrical impedance. They demonstrate that both qualitative and quantitative changes in electrical impedance as a function of cellular adhesion in real time correlate well with variation in myotube thickness caused by atrophy or hypertrophy agents. Conversely, pharmacologically blocking myotube hypertrophy prevents changes in electrical impedance. Thus, impedance can be used as a reliable and sensitive biomarker for myotube atrophy or hypertrophy. Application of this technique to drug screening might be beneficial in finding novel treatments preventing muscle atrophy and other diseases associated with any morphological change in cell shape.
authors.affiliation: Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA, USA. sergey.rakhilin@novartis.com
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rakhilin
authors.forename: Gordon
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Katz
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Warden
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Irelan
authors.forename: Yama A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Abassi
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Glass
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057205:Automation, Laboratory; D015415:Biomarkers; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D049108:Cell Enlargement; D002460:Cell Line; D017097:Electric Impedance; D006984:Hypertrophy; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I / Q000494:pharmacology; D051379:Mice; D018485:Muscle Fibers, Skeletal / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects / Q000473:pathology; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000473:pathology; D009133:Muscular Atrophy / Q000473:pathology*; D032446:Myoblasts / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D007334:Insulin-Like Growth Factor I