Automated Parallel Electrical Characterization of Cells Using Optically-Induced Dielectrophoresis
Na Liu, Yanbin Lin, Yan Peng, Liming Xin, Tao Yue, Yuanyuan Liu, Changhai Ru, Shaorong Xie, Liang Dong, Huayan Pu, Haige Chen, Wen J. Li, Yu Sun
Abstract
This article reports an automated optically-induced dielectrophoresis (ODEP) system for characterizing the specific membrane capacitance (SMC) of individual cells. The simulation of cell motion is conducted to analyze the electrokinetic forces acting on the cell. A self-developed visual tracking algorithm for multicells is used to realize an automated process for determining the frequency-sweeping range, crossover frequencies, and cell radii. The SMC values of malignant bladder cancer cells (T24 and RT4) and normal urothelial cells (SV-HUC-1) were quantified using the automated system, demonstrating that the system has a measurement speed of ~1 cell/s, an accuracy of 1 kHz for the crossover frequency determination, and an accuracy of 0.2 μm for the cell radius measurement.