Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
J Sep Sci. 2017 Oct;40(20):4067-4075. doi: 10.1002/jssc.201700325. Epub 2017 Sep 4.
In this study, a dielectrophoresis field-flow fractionation device was analyzed using a numerical simulation method and the behaviors of a set of different cells were investigated. By reducing the alternating current frequency of the electrodes from the value used in the original setup configuration and increasing the number of exit channels, total discrimination in cell trajectories and subsequent separation of four cell types were achieved. Cells were differentiated based on their size and dielectric response that are represented in their real part of Clausius-Mossotti factor at different frequencies. A number of novel designs were also proposed based on the original setup configuration. It was seen that by reducing the length of the main channel and the number of electrodes at low frequencies and not changing the inlet flow velocities, cell separation was still achieved successfully, although with a slightly larger electrode voltage. The shorter main channel decreased the residence time for the cells on the chip and also reduced the overall size of the device-these were improvements over the original design. The obtained results can be used to analyze other cell types by knowing their size and dielectric properties to design geometries that can ensure separation.
在这项研究中，我们使用数值模拟方法对介电泳场流分离装置进行了分析，并研究了一组不同细胞的行为。通过降低电极的交流频率（从原始设置配置中使用的频率降低）并增加出口通道的数量，实现了细胞轨迹的总区分和随后的四种细胞类型的分离。细胞根据其大小和介电响应进行区分，这些响应在不同频率下表现为 Clausius-Mossotti 因子的实部。还根据原始设置配置提出了许多新的设计。结果表明，通过在低频下降低主通道的长度和电极数量，并且不改变入口流速，仍然可以成功地实现细胞分离，尽管电极电压略高。较短的主通道减少了细胞在芯片上的停留时间，并且还减小了设备的整体尺寸-这些都是对原始设计的改进。通过了解细胞的大小和介电特性，可以获得其他细胞类型的分析结果，从而设计出能够确保分离的几何形状。
