Dielectric properties of red blood cell suspensions based on broadband dielectric spectrum

The dielectric properties of red blood cell suspension (RBCs) samples with different packed cell volume (PCV) values were measured by using Novocontrol's Concept 80 Broadband Dielectric Spectrometer of 1 Hz to 1 GHz at temperature ranging from 0°C to 42°C. There are two relaxation processes on the dielectric spectrum of RBCs samples; one is related to the ions accumulated on double layer boundary of cells and the other to Maxwell-Wagner interface polarization. It was observed that along with the rise of temperature, the peak of dielectric loss moved to high-frequency area and the RBCs sample with higher PCV value got a lower peak. With characteristic relaxation time at various temperatures, RBCs relaxation activation energy and the relative permittivity of cellular membrane were calculated as being close to the known value of phospholipids.