Use of a quartz crystal resonator to study the cell adhesion process

The thickness shear mode (TSM) quartz crystal resonator has been extensively used as a sensitive sensor in various electrochemical and biological applications. This technique, based on the transverse propagation of an acoustic shear wave generated by a sinusoidal electric field through a piezoelectric quartz resonator, provides a non-destructive and powerful means of probing changes in solid-solid or solid-liquid interfaces. In this work, we propose to apply this system to characterize the inhibition properties developed by bioactive polymers towards McCoy fibroblast cells adhesion processes. Thin film of various functionalized poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) based copolymers exhibiting either carboxylate and/or sulfonate functional groups and non functionalized PMMA were deposited on quartz samples as control. The effects of induced inhibition of McCoy fibroblasts cell adhesion onto thin functionalized polymeric films of various chemical compositions were analyzed. In addition. shear acoustical results were further compared to those obtained by a cell counting technique and by optical microscopy.