Basic Study of Dielectric Properties of Cancer Cells by Dielectrophoretic Velocimetry

Abstract

Cell separation technique is essential for the detection of circulating tumor cells in blood and for enrichment of stem cell in regenerative medicine. However, conventional methods require cell labeling such as antibodies, which may damage the cells during the operation. Therefore, dielectrophoresis (DEP), a "label-free" separation technique that eliminates the effects on cells, has been attracting attention. In this paper, we investigated the dielectric properties of Jurkat cells derived from human T-cell leukemia cells by dielectrophoretic velocimetry (DEPVM). An equivalent circuit model of the cell was constructed and the frequency characteristics of the voltage of each layer of the cell were calculated. As a result, it was shown that the live and dead cells showed opposite dielectrophoretic forces in the region below 10 kHz, indicating the possibility of separating them. The agreement between the theoretical calculations and the experimental results shows the validity of the equivalent circuit model.