Abstract-Quantitative measurement of permeabilization of living cells by terahertz attenuated total reflection

Marianne Grognot¹ and Guilhem Gallot^1,a)
 HIDE AFFILIATIONS
1 Laboratoire Optique et Biosciences, Ecole Polytechnique, CNRS UMR7645, 91128 Palaiseau, France and INSERM U1182, 91128 Palaiseau, France
a) Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail:Guilhem.Gallot@polytechnique.edu.
Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 103702 (2015); http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4930168

http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/107/10/10.1063/1.4930168

Using Attenuated Total Reflection imaging technique in the terahertz domain, we demonstrate non-invasive, non-staining real time measurements of cytoplasm leakage during permeabilization of epithelial cells by saponin. The terahertz signal is mostly sensitive to the intracellular protein concentration in the cells, in a very good agreement with standard bicinchoninic acid protein measurements. It opens the way to in situ real time dynamics of protein content and permeabilization in live cells