Variation of TEER on the active area and membrane geometry
[Background read – https://trace-bmps.org/blog/theory/2015/01/28/why-teer-values-are-multiplied-by-membrane-area-dc-version]
I am putting the excerpt of this old post from Jim in this post.
Tom helped me in gathering this data. In order to prove my point that electrical resistance is very sensitive to the membrane geometry, I decided to perform some proof-of-concept experiments with regular transwells.
I used 3 sizes of transwells- 6 well, 12 well and 24 well plate inserts. 6 well inserts have largest area, while 24 well ones have the least. I added standard amount of cell media on the top and the bottom of these inserts, and recorded the electrical resistance using STX2 or chopstick electrodes at room temperature. Then I used to annular gaskets to block the area on 12 well inserts (middle size, that’s why), and I exposed active areas from 10% to 100%. This geometry can now resemble silicon nanomembrane geometry, except that the active area in the latter case is rectangular and not circular, but same philosophy. Red axes indicate transwells of different total sizes, but 100% active area. Blue axes represent 12-well size transwell with fixed total area, but increasing active area. Y axis in both the cases represents raw resistance multiplied with the respective active area of the transwell insert used.
I will update the post later; publishing now so that I can present today – April 11, 2017.
