Label-Free Rapid Separation and Enrichment of Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells from a Heterogeneous Cell Mixture Using a Dielectrophoresis Device

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) are an important cell resource for stem cell-based therapy, which are generally isolated and enriched by the density-gradient method based on cell size and density after collection of tissue samples. Since this method has limitations with regards to purity and repeatability, development of alternative label-free methods for BMSC separation is desired. In the present study, rapid label-free separation and enrichment of BMSCs from a heterogeneous cell mixture with bone marrow-derived promyelocytes was successfully achieved using a dielectrophoresis (DEP) device comprising saw-shaped electrodes. Upon application of an electric field, HL-60 cells as models of promyelocytes aggregated and floated between the saw-shaped electrodes, while UE7T-13 cells as models of BMSCs were effectively captured on the tips of the saw-shaped electrodes. After washing out the HL-60 cells from the device selectively, the purity of the UE7T-13 cells was increased from 33% to 83.5% within 5 min. Although further experiments and optimization are required, these results show the potential of the DEP device as a label-free rapid cell isolation system yielding high purity for rare and precious cells such as BMSCs.