Carbon Nanotubes Multi Electrodes Array to Image Capacitance for Label-free Discrimination of Lipid Region in Atherosclerosis ex vivo

Recently, there are a lot of diseases all around the world. Out of them, Atherosclerosis (AS) is the most common cause of stroke, cardiovascular mortality, and myocardial infarction. The macrophage-derived foam cell, which is formed by oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL), is the crucial marker for AS. In this study, we report a label-free capacitance imaging technique with multi-electrode array (MEA). The lipid-rich aorta arch lesions, which are derived from an apolipoprotein-E receptor-deficient (apoE-/-) mouse, exhibit higher capacitance than the lipid-free aorta arch, allowing the capacitance imaging of lipid region in atherosclerosis. To improve the contacts between MEA and tissue, polypyrrole(PPy)-coated multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) multi electrode array (PPy-MWNTs-MEA) was fabricated. Compared to TiN-MEA, PPy-MWNTs-MEA yielded lower contact impedance and better capacitance images. In addition, we have also developed a flexible MEA using single walled carbon nanotubes on a PET substrate. The lipid region could be discriminated in the capacitance images of the lipid-rich aorta arch lesions measured using flexible MEA, demonstrating a feasibility of in vivo applications.