{"id":"doi:10.1016/j.bios.2026.118720","kind":"article","title":"Real-time, label-free impedimetric monitoring of insulin secretion from three-dimensional stem cell-derived islets","authors":["Zitzmann FD","Remmert C","Rogers NK","Schmidt S","Lickert H","Jahnke HG","Meier M"],"author_count":7,"year":2026,"published":"2026-04-24","venue":"Biosensors & bioelectronics","cited_by":0,"doi":"10.1016/j.bios.2026.118720","arxiv_id":null,"nct_id":null,"source_url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2026.118720","archive_url":"https://space-kitty.com/papers/doi:10.1016/j.bios.2026.118720","updated":null,"pmid":"42054864","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":null,"pdf_url":null,"abstract":"Functional assessment of insulin secretion is essential for the development and application of stem cell-derived β-cell products. Conventional glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) assays rely on end-point, batch-averaged enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), limiting temporal resolution and masking functional heterogeneity at the level of individual islet-like clusters. Here, we present a label-free, non-invasive impedance spectroscopy-based approach for real-time monitoring of insulin secretion from individual stem cell-derived islets (SC-islets) cultured on microcavity microelectrode array (MEA) chips. Human induced pluripotent stem cells were differentiated into SC-islets and integrated into microcavity MEAs, enabling three-dimensional confinement and parallel electrical recordings. Impedance measurements during on-chip GSIS revealed characteristic glucose-responsive dynamics that correlated with insulin secretion quantified by ELISA and were suppressed by pharmacological inhibition. Impedance spectroscopy resolved functional responses at the level of individual SC-islets, uncovering cluster-to-cluster variability that was obscured by pooled secretion assays. High-density microcavity MEAs further enabled spatially resolved impedance measurements, revealing intra-cluster heterogeneity of insulin secretion. While impedance spectroscopy provides an indirect readout and glucose stimulation was applied as stepwise changes, this platform enables real-time, scalable, and cluster-resolved functional assessment of three-dimensional islet tissues. The approach establishes a foundation for functional screening of SC-islets, differentiation optimization, drug testing, and future potency assessment workflows.","abstract_license":"CC-BY (article license as recorded by Europe PMC; abstract reproduced unmodified apart from markup removal)","license":"CC-BY","is_open_access":false,"retracted":false,"peer_reviewed":null,"categories":[],"details":null,"provenance":"europepmc","attribution":"Abstract of \"Real-time, label-free impedimetric monitoring of insulin secretion from three-dimensional stem cell-derived islets\" by Zitzmann FD, Remmert C, Rogers NK et al., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2026.118720, used under its Creative Commons Attribution license (CC-BY); markup removed, otherwise unmodified.","topics":[{"slug":"gene-cell-therapy","name":"Gene & Cell Therapy","domain_slug":"medicine"}],"cited_in_dossiers":[]}