Abstract
In cell fusion and genetic recombination, although the activity of single cell is extremely important, there is no analyzing method of single cell activity. Development of quick analyzing method of single cell activity is desired in various fields.
Dielectrophoresis (DEP) refers to the force exerted on the induced dipole moment of an uncharged dielectric and/or conductive particle by a non-uniform electric field. By applying DEP, we obtained experimentally relationship between the cell activity and the dielectric property Re [K (ω)], and examined how to evaluate the single cell activity by measuring of Re [K (ω)] of single cell. A cone and plate electrode geometry was adapted in order to achieve the feedback-controlled DEP levitation. The single cell is exposed to a non-uniform field induced by the cone and plate electrode, and more polarizable cell moves to the direction of the cone electrode by the DEP force. The cell settles in the position where the DEP force and the gravity are balanced by controlling applied voltage. This settled position where measured on the center axis of the cone electrode depended on the dielectric constant of the cell. From these results, the relationship between the specific growth rates in cell growth phase and the dielectric property Re [K (ω)] was obtained. Furthermore, the effect of various stresses to cell such as concentration of carbon dioxide, temperature etc. on the cell activity was examined.
