title: Dielectric properties of mouse lymphocytes and erythrocytes.
abstract: In order to study the effect of the nucleus on dielectric behavior of the whole cell, permittivity (dielectric constant) and conductivity of mouse lymphocytes and erythrocytes were measured over a frequency range from 0.1 to 250 MHz. Erythrocytes (spherocytes) showed a single dielectric dispersion, which was explained by a single-shell model that is a conducting sphere covered with a thin insulating shell. On the other hand, lymphocytes showed a broad dielectric dispersion curve which was composed of two subdispersions. The high-frequency subdispersion, which was not found for erythrocytes, was assigned to the Maxwell-Wagner dispersion of the nucleus occupying about 65% of the total cell volume. Analysis of the lymphocyte dispersion was carried out by a double-shell model, in which a shelled sphere, i.e., nucleus, is incorporated into the single-shell model. The following electrical parameters were consequently estimated; the capacitance of the plasma membrane, 0.86 microF.cm-2; the conductivity of the cytoplasm, 3.2 mS.cm-1; the capacitance and conductance of the nuclear envelope are, respectively, 0.62 microF.cm-2 and 15 S.cm-2, and the permittivity and conductivity of the nucleoplasm are 52 and 13.5 mS.cm-1.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Asami
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takahashi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Takashima
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D004594:Electrophysiology; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice