A non-destructive way to monitor cells has been used to reveal the effects of a potential Alzheimer's drug on neurons.

Michael Thompson, Jonathan Ellis and colleagues at the University of Toronto, Canada, have used an acoustic wave sensor and a scanning Kelvin nanoprobe to investigate cell responses to drugs. 

Acoustic wave devices have been used to study living cells before but this is the first time they have been applied to neurons in cultures, environments in which they can form networks. The two methods work by measuring physical properties such as changes in wave properties and work function (the amount of energy necessary to remove an electron from the surface) that arise from biochemical events like that of drug-neuron binding.

'These tools can be used to measure real-time changes in neuronal function, which is invaluable for measuring chemical uptake rates and changes in cellular metabolism in response to drugs,' said Ellis. Both of these techniques are non-destructive, which means these neurons can be measured again afterwards, or monitored continuously through their growth cycle. It is these features that set them apart from other techniques, he added.  

Glen McHale, an acoustic wave sensor expert at Nottingham Trent University, UK, said that it is fascinating to see an approach like this being extended as a label-free method to investigate interactions between neurons and drugs.

Thompson and Ellis have carried out preliminary studies into neuron responses to several drugs, including cerebrolysin, a potential treatment for Alzheimer's patients. They showed that cerebrolysin has an effect on the neurons but warn that more work is needed to discover how the effects originate. Ellis said that the combined techniques could eventually reveal the mechanisms involved in the drug's action on neurons, and could possibly be used to study diseased neurons and their reaction to drugs.

Sarah Corcoran