title: High-intensity electrostatic-field exposure system for cultured biological cells.
abstract: We describe a new system for exposing cultured biological cells that have been plated on coverslips to strong electrostatic fields at magnitudes greater than 10(3) V/cm. Techniques are described that make use of mineral oil to render insignificant electrical conduction currents (total leakage current is less than 1.0 nA or less than 0.1 nA/coverslip), joule heating (less than 10(-6) W), or current-induced magnetic fields (less than 10(-13) T) in regions inhabited by cells. The mineral oil also eliminates a reduction in the strength of the applied field, which otherwise can occur from increased electrode-to-medium impedance at the site of application. Thus the applied field is reliably specified in the vicinity of a cell membrane. Control and electrostatic field chambers are housed in a grounded metal incubator. Cylindrical mu-metal shields can be used to reduce background magnetic fields in each chamber from 40 microT static and approximately 1 microT ac to, respectively, less than 3 microT static and approximately 100 nT ac. Contamination of cells by impurity atoms that may leach from electrodes was measured by atomic-absorption spectrophotometry and found to be negligible. Stray magnetic- and electric-field components within the incubator were measured, as were background fields around the laboratory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque.
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Obarski
authors.forename: C L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Beckel
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006224:Cricetinae; D003584:Cytological Techniques; D004560:Electricity; D008899:Mineral Oil
chemical_list: D008899:Mineral Oil