Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Room 36-824, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Lab Chip. 2013 Oct 21;13(20):4109-17. doi: 10.1039/c3lc50392e. Epub 2013 Aug 23.
Dielectrophoresis-based cell separation has significant promise for separation of cells from heterogeneous mixtures based on their electrical properties and is used in diverse areas ranging from hematopoietic stem cell purification to cancer cell isolation. The electrical properties of cells in heterogeneous populations determine if and how well cell subpopulations are separable, and therefore the utility of dielectrophoretic separation is fundamentally determined by our ability to measure electrical properties of cell populations on a cell-by-cell basis. We developed an automated system for electrical characterization of cells that can characterize 1000's of individual cells across a range of conditions (>30 conditions/h). The system uses a continuous-flow microfluidic device and a method termed the dielectrophoretic spring that uses the force balance between dielectrophoresis and fluid drag to measure electrical properties of cells independent of size. We present characterization of the method with beads and cells as well as its application to rapidly find conditions that can discriminate neutrophils with different activation states.
基于介电泳的细胞分离技术有望基于细胞的电学特性从异质混合物中分离细胞，广泛应用于从造血干细胞纯化到癌细胞分离等多个领域。异质群体中细胞的电学特性决定了细胞亚群是否以及如何能够很好地分离，因此介电泳分离的实用性从根本上取决于我们是否能够在单细胞的基础上测量细胞群体的电学特性。我们开发了一种用于细胞电特性表征的自动化系统，可以在多种条件下（>30 种条件/小时）对 1000 多个单细胞进行特征分析。该系统使用连续流微流控装置和一种称为介电泳弹簧的方法，利用介电泳和流体阻力之间的力平衡来测量细胞的电学特性，而与细胞大小无关。我们介绍了该方法的特性，包括珠子和细胞，以及其在快速找到可以区分不同激活状态的中性粒细胞的条件方面的应用。
