Separation of live/dead cells by the use of three dimensional non-uniform AC electric field

Abstract

The cell-separation analysis has many important biological and medical applications. In the present work, numerical study of dielectrophoretic (DEP) flow channel, a dielectrophoretic devise that exploits the differences in the density and dielectric properties of cells in cell-separation, was conducted to examine the cell-separation performance of the proposed device. The cell sample used in the simulation was assumed to be Human leukocyte (B cell). The cell-separation analysis was carried out for the flow channel equipped with a flat electrode on the top surface and an array of micro-fabricated electrodes on the bottom surface; yielding a three dimensional non-uniform AC electric field. To investigate optimal separation conditions for live and dead cell mixtures, the strength of the applied electric field was varied in several ways. With appropriately chosen conditions, high separation performance was achieved in separating dead cells from live cells. The proposed device does not involve cell labeling or cell modification step, and provides a new approach to hematological analysis.