Investigation of Low-Voltage Pulse Parameters on Electroporation and Electrical Lysis Using a Microfluidic Device With Interdigitated Electrodes

• Published in: IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering 2014-03, Vol.61 (3), p.871-882
• Main Authors: Morshed, Bashir I., Shams, Maitham, Mussivand, Tofy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomembranes; Cell Nucleus - radiation effects; Computer Simulation; Cytological Techniques - instrumentation; Cytological Techniques - methods; DNA - analysis; Electric field; Electric potential; electrical lysis (EL); Electrodes; electroporation (EP); Electroporation - methods; Equipment Design; flow index of electroporation; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Loading; Microchannel; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - instrumentation; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques - methods; microfluidic device; Mouth Mucosa - cytology; Plasmas
• ISSN: 0018-9294; 1558-2531
• DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2013.2291794

Electroporation (EP) of biological cells leads to the exchange of materials through the permeabilized cell membrane, while electrical lysis (EL) irreversibly disrupts the cell membrane. We report a microfluidic device to study these two phenomena with low-voltage excitation for lab-on-a-chip (LOC) applications. For systematic study of EP, we have employed a quantification metric: flow Index (FI) of EP. Simulation and experimental results with the microfluidic device containing interdigitated, coplanar, integrated electrodes to electroporate, and rapidly lyse biological cells are presented. H&E stained human buccal cells were subjected to various pulse magnitudes, pulsewidths, and number of pulses. Simulations show that an electric field of 25 kV/cm with a 20 V applied potential produced 1.3°C temperature rise for a 5 s of excitation. For a 20 V pulse-excitation with pulse-widths between 0.5 to 5 s, EL was observed, whereas for lower excitations, only EP was observed. FI of EP is found to be a direct function of pulse magnitudes, pulsewidths, and numbers of pulses. To release DNA from nucleus, excitation-pulses of 5 s were required. Quantification of EP would be useful for systematic study of EP toward optimization with various excitation pulses, while low-voltage requirement and high yield of EP and EL are critical to develop LOC for drug delivery and cell-sample preparation, respectively.