Two-dimensional surface plasmon resonance imager: An approach to study neuronal differentiation.

There is a growing demand for the development of a new bioanalytical technique that is capable of monitoring neuronal differentiation noninvasively, in real time, and without any fluorescent probes. In a previous article, we demonstrated that a high-resolution two-dimensional surface plasmon resonance (2D-SPR) imager was very useful to monitor cell response on chemical stimulation in which protein kinase C (PKC) translocation was related. In the current study, we focused on developing a new method for monitoring neuronal differentiation and examined the application of the high-resolution 2D-SPR imager to monitor neuronal differentiation noninvasively and by a label-free format. We successfully monitored the intracellular signal transduction, which was mainly translocation of PKC in PC12 cells by the 2D-SPR imager, and found that the cells treated with a differentiation factor, nerve growth factor (NGF), showed a remarkable enhancement of 2D-SPR response to muscarine, carbachol, and acetylcholine stimulation. The results demonstrated that 2D-SPR sensing is applicable to in situ assessment of neuronal differentiation and to studying the expression state of the specific receptors in the living state.