Electro-deformation Spectroscopy of Biological Cells

Electro-deformation implemented in microfluidic platform has enabled a general method for biomechanical testing of human blood cells. However, electro-deformation spectroscopy (EDS), the detailed analysis of the frequency-dependent electro-deformation that can offer more information on cell electromechanics has yet to be explored. This paper reports the first EDS experiment, demonstrated using human and mouse blood specimens in a range of 100 kHz – 15 MHz. Preliminary results showed similarity and distinction between human and mouse specimens under different testing conditions. Using the standard values of dielectric properties for human cells, membrane shear modulus was determined and validated by comparing to the values reported in literature. The framework can potentially decouple the electrical and mechanical aspects involved in electro-deformation measurement. This scheme can be easily adapted to test blood cells and other deformable cell types in animal species and animal models of human diseases.