Dielectric model for Chinese hamster ovary cells obtained by dielectrophoresis cytometry

We present a dielectric model and its parameters for Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells based on a double-shell structure which includes the cell membrane, cytoplasm, nuclear envelope, and nucleoplasm. Employing a dielectrophoresis (DEP) based technique and a microfluidic system, the DEP response of many single CHO cells is measured and the spectrum of the Clausius-Mossotti factor is obtained. The dielectric parameters of the model are then extracted by curve-fitting to the measured spectral data. Using this approach over the 0.6–10 MHz frequency range, we report the values for CHO cells' membrane permittivity, membrane thickness, cytoplasm conductivity, nuclear envelope permittivity, and nucleoplasm conductivity. The size of the cell and its nuclei are obtained using optical techniques.