THE PIEZOELECTRIC QUARTZ-CRYSTAL MASS AND DISSIPATION SENSOR - A MEANS OF STUDYING CELL-ADHESION

We explore the potential of using a quartz crystal microbalance based technique for the characterization of living cells during the process of adhesion to a surface. The combined information from simultaneously recorded changes in resonant frequency and energy dissipation is used to extract qualitative information about the cell adhesion process. A dhesion of small colonies of less than 100 cells in a serum-free envir onment can readily be detected and characterized. The evolution of the dissipation factor in combination with resonant frequency provides a fingerprint of the cell adhesion process, which is sensitive to proper ties of the surface as well as the type of cell.