Cell manipulation and cultivation under a.c. electric field influence in highly conductive culture media

• Published in: Biochimica et biophysica acta Vol. 1201; no. 3; pp. 353 - 360
• Main Authors: Fuhr, Günter, Glasser, Henning, Müller, Torsten, Schnelle, Thomas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 15.12.1994
• Subjects: 3T3 Cells; animal cells; Animal/plant cells; Animals; cell culture; cells; Cells, Cultured; Corylus avellana; Culture Media; Dielectrophoresis; Electric Conductivity; electric field; Electricity; electrodes; Electrorotation; fibroblasts; Larix decidua; membrane potential; Mice; plant anatomy; plants; pollen; Semiconductor technology; Transmembrane potential; Ultramicroelectrodes; Electrorotation; Transmembrane potential; Dielectrophoresis; Ultramicroelectrodes; Animal/plant cells; Semiconductor technology
• ISSN: 0304-4165; 0006-3002; 1872-8006; 1878-2434
• DOI: 10.1016/0304-4165(94)90062-0

Extreme miniaturisation of electrodes enabled us to apply high-frequency electric fields (between 100 kHz and several hundred MHz) of field strengths up to 50 kV/m into cell suspensions of high conductivity (several S/m), such as original cell culture media. The active electrode areas were additionally decreased and modified by insulating the terminals and/or coating of the electrodes with thin dielectric layers. Micro scaled electrode structures were fabricated on glass or silicon wafers in semiconductor technology. It could theoretically and experimentally be shown that cells exhibit exclusively negative dielectrophoresis if suspended in highly conductive media. Therefore, they can be repulsed from surfaces by appropriate arrangements of electrodes and easily be manipulated in free solution. Adherently growing animal cells, like mouse fibroblasts (3T3, L929), were cultivated in Dulbecco's Modification of Eagle's Medium (DMEM) or RPMI 1640 under permanent field application (frequency: 10 MHz, field strength: 50–100 kV.m).