Abstract
Culturing embryonic stem (ES) cells effectively requires feeder cell layer. However, to apply the ES cells in a clinical setting, it is important to get rid of the feeder cells after the expanding culture of ES cells. We focused on dielectrophoresis (DEP) to discriminate the ES cells from the feeder cells. In this study, we hypothesized that DEP forces generated on ES and feeder cells are vary depending on their electric properties. To test this hypothesis, dielectrophoretic properties of ES and feeder cells were measured by custom-made DEP cell analysis chip. From the results, the DEP properties of ES and feeder cells showed different dependencies on the frequency of applied AC-electric field. Using the different frequency-dependencies of the DEP force and a flow-induced shear force, it might be possible to get rid of the feeder cells from ES cell culture.
