Voltammetric Behavior of Tumor Cells U937 and Its Usefulness in Evaluating the Effect of Caffeic Acid

Abstract

The voltammetric behavior of human mammalian cells was studied in connection to human leukemia cells U937. The voltammetric response of the cells was shown to relate with cell metabolic viability in the culture course. For example, the fluctuations of peak currents of U937 were parallel with the nutrients replenished or not, which can reflect the cell health state. We used the electrochemical method to evaluate the effectiveness of caffeic acid on the tumor cells and found that this chemical had a depressive effect upon the voltammetric response of the cells in culture course. This result was parallel to the inhibition effect of caffeic acid on the viability of U937 tested by the Trypan blue experiment. Cell voltammetric analysis was shown to be valuable in evaluating drug effectiveness on cells. Moreover, the mechanism of cell voltammetric behavior was discussed.