Pyroelectric Sensor for Characterization of Biological Cells

Nowadays, cell characterization represents a fundamental task widely diffused in different fields. The main purpose of this paper is the design and development of a device for cellular characterization based on a pyroelectric sensor. After a brief introduction dedicated to the methods actually employed for cell counting, the pyroelectric sensor, the electronic readout unit, and the prototype will be introduced. Different cell concentration samples have been analyzed in order to highlight how the induced pyroelectric response is related to the cell properties. Experimental results shown that sensor output is strongly affected by cell type, concentration and viability. Particularly, it has been observed an increase in output signal related to an increase in cell concentration, mainly due to a lower thermal conductivity. No significant variation has been observed by the drastic reduction of cell viability also by varying cell concentration. The aforementioned results are probably due to the induction of a decrease in mitochondrial activity. Obtained results are very promising for the realization of a low cost laboratory device with all the characteristics listed above.