title: Investigation of low-voltage pulse parameters on electroporation and electrical lysis using a microfluidic device with interdigitated electrodes.
abstract: Electroporation (EP) of biological cells leads to the exchange of materials through the permeabilized cell membrane, while electrical lysis (EL) irreversibly disrupts the cell membrane. We report a microfluidic device to study these two phenomena with low-voltage excitation for lab-on-a-chip (LOC) applications. For systematic study of EP, we have employed a quantification metric: flow Index (FI) of EP. Simulation and experimental results with the microfluidic device containing interdigitated, coplanar, integrated electrodes to electroporate, and rapidly lyse biological cells are presented. H&E stained human buccal cells were subjected to various pulse magnitudes, pulsewidths, and number of pulses. Simulations show that an electric field of 25 kV/cm with a 20 V applied potential produced 1.3 (°)C temperature rise for a 5 s of excitation. For a 20 V pulse-excitation with pulse-widths between 0.5 to 5 s, EL was observed, whereas for lower excitations, only EP was observed. FI of EP is found to be a direct function of pulse magnitudes, pulsewidths, and numbers of pulses. To release DNA from nucleus, excitation-pulses of 5 s were required. Quantification of EP would be useful for systematic study of EP toward optimization with various excitation pulses, while low-voltage requirement and high yield of EP and EL are critical to develop LOC for drug delivery and cell-sample preparation, respectively.
authors.forename: Bashir I
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Morshed
authors.forename: Maitham
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shams
authors.forename: Tofy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mussivand
mesh_terms: D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000528:radiation effects; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D004566:Electrodes; D018274:Electroporation / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D004247:DNA