Analysis of Cell Dielectrophoretic Motion with Microfluidic Device Embedding Multi-electrodes

Abstract

The motion characteristics of different cells in the multi-electrode array microchip were studied under the dielectrophoretic force, and the two cells with the same external morphology but different internal histone protein were separated. The multi-electrode array microfluidic chip was embedded in the 5 square cross section of the channel, and 8 electrodes were embedded on each side of the cross section. The structure enlarged the size of the microfluidic channel, which was beneficial for the high flow separation of the cells under the action of the dielectrophoretic force. To study the characteristics of cell motion in the microfluidic device, the electric field distribution in a cross-section was calculated, and the optimal electrode combination pattern was obtained, which generated a uniform electric field distribution and a greatest the dielectrophoretic force. After that, the motion characteristics of MRC-5 in human lung fibroblasts in different frequencies and complex electric fields at different frequencies and complex electric fields were analyzed. By analyzing the spectrum of the dielectrophoretic force, the separation frequency of the two kinds of cells of wild type (WT) and histone-GFP type was f=30 kHz, and the separation rate of cell was calculated by adding different proportions of sucrose solution and two cell mixture at two inlets. That was, when the flow-rate ratio of the 2 inlets was 12:1, the separation rate of the two types of cells was 93.5%. The method for cell separation using microfluidic chips provided a basis for the rapid separation of cells in the future.