title: Differential dielectric responses of chondrocyte and Jurkat cells in electromanipulation buffers.
abstract: Electromanipulation of cells as a label-free cell manipulation and characterization tool has gained particular interest recently. However, the applicability of electromanipulation, particularly dielectrophoresis (DEP), to biological cells is limited to cells suspended in buffers containing lower amounts of salts relative to the physiological buffers. One might question the use of low conductivity buffers (LCBs) for DEP separation, as cells are stressed in buffers lacking physiological levels of salt. In LCB, cells leak ions and undergo volume regulation. Therefore, cells exhibit time-dependent DEP response in LCB. In this work, cellular changes in LCB are assessed by dielectric spectroscopy, cell viability assay, and gene expression of chondrocytes and Jurkats. Results indicate leakage of ions from cells, increases in cytoplasmic conductivity, membrane capacitance, and conductance. Separability factor, which defines optimum conditions for DEP cell separation, for the two cell types is calculated using the cellular dielectric data. Optimum DEP separation conditions change as cellular dielectric properties evolve in LCB. Genetic analyses indicate no changes in expression of ionic channel proteins for chondrocytes suspended in LCB. Retaining cellular viability might be important during dielectrophoretic separation, especially when cells are to be biologically tested at a downstream microfluidic component.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Ahmet C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Sabuncu
authors.affiliation: Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA.|Department of Biological Sciences, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Anthony J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Asmar
authors.affiliation: Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Stacey
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beskok
mesh_terms: D002021:Buffers; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D019902:Chondrocytes; D058266:Dielectric Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods*; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D019169:Jurkat Cells; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D002021:Buffers
keywords: Chondrocytes; Clausius-Mossotti factor; Dielectric spectroscopy; Dielectrophoretic separation; Microfluidics