Millet Larry J, Park Kidong, Watkins Nicholas N, Hsia K Jimmy, Bashir Rashid
Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA.
J Vis Exp. 2011 Feb 4(48):2545. doi: 10.3791/2545.
Microfluidic devices have advanced cell studies by providing a dynamic fluidic environment on the scale of the cell for studying, manipulating, sorting and counting cells. However, manipulating the cell within the fluidic domain remains a challenge and requires complicated fabrication protocols for forming valves and electrodes, or demands specialty equipment like optical tweezers. Here, we demonstrate that conventional printed circuit boards (PCB) can be used for the non-contact manipulation of cells by employing dielectrophoresis (DEP) for bead and cell manipulation in laminar flow fields for bioactuation, and for cell and bead separation in multichannel microfluidic devices. First, we present the protocol for assembling the DEP electrodes and microfluidic devices, and preparing the cells for DEP. Then, we characterize the DEP operation with polystyrene beads. Lastly, we show representative results of bead and cell separation in a multichannel microfluidic device. In summary, DEP is an effective method for manipulating particles (beads or cells) within microfluidic devices.
微流控装置通过在细胞尺度上提供动态流体环境，推进了细胞研究，可用于细胞的研究、操控、分选和计数。然而，在流体区域内操控细胞仍然是一项挑战，需要复杂的制造工艺来形成阀门和电极，或者需要诸如光镊之类的专业设备。在此，我们证明，传统印刷电路板（PCB）可用于细胞的非接触式操控，通过采用介电泳（DEP）在层流场中操控珠子和细胞以实现生物驱动，并用于多通道微流控装置中的细胞和珠子分离。首先，我们介绍组装DEP电极和微流控装置以及为DEP准备细胞的方案。然后，我们用聚苯乙烯珠子表征DEP操作。最后，我们展示多通道微流控装置中珠子和细胞分离的代表性结果。总之，DEP是在微流控装置中操控颗粒（珠子或细胞）的有效方法。
