Recent advances of microcalorimetry for studying cellular metabolic heat

Cellular metabolic heat (Delta P-M) is produced from intracellular reactions, carrying information about particular processes thus indicating the status of organisms. Delta P-M originating from a single cell is at pW level, making its determination based on the calorimetry technique challenging. Microcalorimetry, evolved from original calorimetry, provides an opportunity to look inside the cell by monitoring Delta P-M at single-cell level due to its high resolution. In this review, we discuss the microcalorimetry-based techniques utilized to measure Delta P-M, as well as its extended applications. We first introduce the characterization of microcalorimeters and propose potential methods to improve the performance of these devices. Then we focus on Delta P-M measurements using microcalorimeters both in microorganisms and mammalian cells. We also review the applications of Delta P-M measurements for fundamental metabolism research and drug susceptibility tests. The measurement of Delta P-M at single-cell level is challenging shedding light on cellular processes and enhance our knowledge in this field. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.