Organic Electrochemical Transistors: Smart Devices for Real‐Time Monitoring of Cellular Vitality

Current technologies to monitor formation and disruption in in vitro cell cultures are based either on optical techniques or on electrical impedance/resistance measurement, which often rely on cumbersome and time‐consuming measurements and data analyses. In this paper, poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)‐based organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are proposed with channel areas specifically designed and dimensioned as fast and real‐time monitoring devices for a large variety of cell lines, with a broad range of tissue resistance. In particular, it is investigated how and why two device configurations provide a different response to leaky‐barrier (NIH‐3T3) and strong‐barrier (CaCo‐2) cell lines growth and detachment, achieving a continuous monitoring also for leaky‐barrier cell layer growth and detachment. Data are collected using the transistor dynamic behavior to a DC potential pulse on the gate, providing an excellent time resolution and thus enhancing the amount of information that can be collected for fast biological processes (<5 s).