Extracellular Membrane Potential Measurement of Single Living Cells with Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy

Recently, the existence of multiple micro-domains of extracellular potential around individual cells have been revealed by voltage reporter dye using fluorescence microscopy. One hypothesis is that these long lasting potential patterns play a vital role in regulating important cell activities such as embryonic patterning, regenerative repair and reduction of cancerous disorganization. We used multifunctional Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM) to study these extracellular potential patterns of a single cell with higher spatial resolution.