Action potential recording from dielectrophoretically positioned neurons inside micro-wells of a planar microelectrode array

A review is presented of the present status of the theory, the developed technology and the current applications of dielectrophoresis ͑DEP͒. Over the past 10 years around 2000 publications have addressed these three aspects, and current trends suggest that the theory and technology have matured sufficiently for most effort to now be directed towards applying DEP to unmet needs in such areas as biosensors, cell therapeutics, drug discovery, medical diagnostics, microfluidics, nanoassembly, and particle filtration. The dipole approximation to describe the DEP force acting on a particle subjected to a nonuniform electric field has evolved to include multipole contributions, the perturbing effects arising from interactions with other cells and boundary surfaces, and the influence of electrical double-layer polarizations that must be considered for nanoparticles. Theoretical modelling of the electric field gradients generated by different electrode designs has also reached an advanced state. Advances in the technology include the development of sophisticated electrode designs, along with the introduction of new materials ͑e.g., silicone polymers, dry film resist͒ and methods for fabricating the electrodes and microfluidics of DEP devices ͑photo and electron beam lithography, laser ablation, thin film techniques, CMOS technology͒. Around three-quarters of the 300 or so scientific publications now being published each year on DEP are directed towards practical applications, and this is matched with an increasing number of patent applications. A summary of the US patents granted since January 2005 is given, along with an outline of the small number of perceived industrial applications ͑e.g., mineral separation, micropolishing, manipulation and dispensing of fluid droplets, manipulation and assembly of micro components͒. The technology has also advanced sufficiently for DEP to be used as a tool to manipulate nanoparticles ͑e.g., carbon nanotubes, nano wires, gold and metal oxide nanoparticles͒ for the fabrication of devices and sensors. Most efforts are now being directed towards biomedical applications, such as the spatial manipulation and selective separation/enrichment of target cells or bacteria, high-throughput molecular screening, biosensors, immunoassays, and the artificial engineering of three-dimensional cell constructs. DEP is able to manipulate and sort cells without the need for biochemical labels or other bioengineered tags, and without contact to any surfaces. This opens up potentially important applications of DEP as a tool to address an unmet need in stem cell research and therapy.

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“…9, pp. [193][194]Ref. 12, to derive DEP force and torque expressions for a sphere of radius R located a distance h from a wall.…”

Section: Presence Of Perturbing Boundaries or Particlesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review Article—Dielectrophoresis: Status of the theory, technology, and applications

2010

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“…The comparison between the dielectric properties of neuronal and glial stem cells and their progenies opens another door to study the neural stem cell differentiation process [11,12]. Additionally, the cellular separation and purification processes enable cell-specific studies such as neuronal action potential detection [13] and the isolation of circulating tumor cells (CTC) from blood cells [14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of the physical properties of neurons and glial cells using dielectrophoresis crossover frequency

et al. 2016

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We successfully determine the ranges of dielectric permittivity, cytoplasm conductivity, and specific membrane capacitance of mouse hippocampal neuronal and glial cells using dielectrophoresis (DEP) crossover frequency (CF). This methodology is based on the simulation of CF directly from the governing equation of a dielectric model of mammalian cells, as well as the measurements of DEP CFs of mammalian cells in different suspension media with different conductivities, based on a simple experimental setup. Relationships between the properties of cells and DEP CF, as demonstrated by theoretical analysis, enable the simultaneous estimation of three properties by a straightforward fitting procedure based on experimentally measured CFs. We verify the effectiveness and accuracy of this approach for primary mouse hippocampal neurons and glial cells, whose dielectric properties, previously, have not been accurately determined. The estimated neuronal properties significantly narrow the value ranges available from the literature. Additionally, the estimated glial cell properties are a valuable addition to the scarce information currently available about this type of cell. This methodology is applicable to any type of cultured cell that can be subjected to both positive and negative dielectrophoresis.

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“…Gold electrodes are used to provide an electric field to exert a dielectrophoresis (DEP) force [24] on the cells to be localised inside the micro-wells. These electrodes also serve as probes to sense the action potential produced as a consequence of connection between neighbouring neurons [13].…”

Section: Pbw Of Three-dimensional Ncas Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The micro-wells fabricated by UV-lithography feature the negative slope walls that can create areas with the high electric field regions at the bottom edges of the micro-well (Fig. 6a) [13]. This in turn can cause an excessive cell death during dielectrophoresis (DEP) cell positioning, due to membrane rupture resulting from electroporation [27].…”

Section: Pbw Of Three-dimensional Ncas Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fabrication of three-dimensional SU-8 microchannels by proton beam writing for microfluidics applications: Fluid flow characterisation

Alshehri¹,

Palitsin²,

Webb³

et al. 2015

Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B:

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Action potential recording from dielectrophoretically positioned neurons inside micro-wells of a planar microelectrode array

Cited by 23 publications

References 44 publications

Review Article—Dielectrophoresis: Status of the theory, technology, and applications

Review Article—Dielectrophoresis: Status of the theory, technology, and applications

Estimation of the physical properties of neurons and glial cells using dielectrophoresis crossover frequency

Fabrication of three-dimensional SU-8 microchannels by proton beam writing for microfluidics applications: Fluid flow characterisation

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