Detection of cellular damage by hydrogen peroxide using SV40-T2 cells on shear horizontal surface acoustic wave (SH-SAW) sensor

•Rat cultured cells were attached onto the device to travel for SH-SAW.•A change of phase and insertion loss of SAW was observed with 1.0mM H2O2 treatment.•The change of insertion loss was biphasic, with an early phase and a late phase.•The early phase coincided with the destruction of intracellular actin filaments.•The late phase coincided with the destruction of cell–cell tight junctions. The rat lung epithelial cell line SV40-T2 was used to develop a cellular biosensing system to assay for environmental toxicants. The novel approach on which this system is based involves direct attachment of cultured rat or human cells onto a cell-adhesive matrix on the device through which shear horizontal surface acoustic waves (SH-SAW) are transmitted using 50MHz SAW resonator. This novel design enables sensitive monitoring of changes of the electrophysical characteristics of cells, such as their conductivity and relative permittivity. A time-dependent change of phase of SAW and change of insertion loss (change of amplitude) were observed when the cells were treated with 0.5 or 1.0mM H2O2. The change of insertion loss was biphasic, with an early phase (1–3h) and a late phase (3–6h). The late phase coincided with the destruction of cell–cell tight junctions detected by measurement of the transepithelial electrical resistance and paracellular permeability; in contrast, the early phase coincided with the destruction of intracellular actin filaments by H2O2. The early-phase effect of H2O2 on phase shift may be attributable to the change of intracellular permittivity by a change of cellular polarity. Immunofluorescence microscopy showed the disappearance of zonula occludens protein 1 from the region of cell–cell contact. These results suggest the correlation between the change of insertion loss as an SAW parameter and the destruction of tight junctions of the cells on the SH-SAW device in the late phase.