title: Separation by dielectrophoresis of dormant and nondormant bacterial cells of Mycobacterium smegmatis.
abstract: The dielectrophoretic behavior of active, dead, and dormant Mycobacterium smegmatis bacterial cells was studied. It was found that the 72-h-old dormant cells had a much higher effective particle conductivity (812+/-10 muS cm(-1)), almost double that of active cells (560+/-20 muS cm(-1)), while that of dead (autoclaved) M. smegmatis cells was the highest (950+/-15 muS cm(-1)) overall. It was also found that at 80 kHz, 900 muS cm(-1) dead cells were attracted at the edges of interdigitated castellated electrodes by positive dielectrophoresis, but dormant cells were not. Similarly, at 120 kHz, 2 muS cm(-1) active cells were attracted and dormant cells were not. Using these findings a dielectrophoresis-based microfluidic separation system was developed in which dead and active cells were collected from a given cell suspension, while dormant cells were eluted.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: Arseny S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Kaprelyants
authors.forename: Elena G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Salina
authors.forename: Gerard H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Markx