Feasibility study for cell electroporation detection and separation by means of dielectrophoresis.
Electroporation is a phenomenon during which exposure of a cell to high voltage electric pulses results in a significant increase in its membrane permeability. Aside from the fact that after the electroporation the cell membrane becomes more permeable, the cells' geometrical and electrical properties change considerably. These changes enable use of the force on dielectric particles exposed to non-uniform electric field (dielectrophoresis) for separation of non-electroporated and electroporated cells. This paper reports the results of an attempt to separate non-electroporated and electroporated cells by means of dielectrophoresis. In several experiments we managed to separate the non-electroporated and electroporated cells suspended in a medium with conductivity 0.174 S/m by exposing them to a non-uniform electric field at a frequency of 2 MHz. The behaviour of electroporated cells exposed to dielectrophoresis raises the presumption that in addition to conductivity, considerable changes in membrane permittivity occur after the electroporation.
Oblak
Jakob
J
Institute for Rehabilitation, Linhartova 51, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Krizaj
Dejan
D
Amon
Slavko
S
Macek-Lebar
Alenka
A
Miklavcic
Damijan
D
D000818:Animals; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods*; D018274:Electroporation / Q000379:methods*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D008546:Melanoma, Experimental / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology*; D051379:Mice; D008839:Microelectrodes; D008954:Models, Biological