Dielectric study of biological phenomena at the single cell level: Electroporation and starvation

In this paper we present the use of a dielectrophoresis (DEP) cytometry technique to study changes in single cells upon application of a particular stimulus. In one case we measure single CHO cells immediately after exposure to pulsed electric fields. Our results show a significant change in the dielectric response of cells after application of sufficiently strong pulses. In another study we investigate the effect of nutrient deficiency on CHO cells. Many individual cells are measured as they undergo starvation due to lack of nutrients in their medium. Our DEP measurement results, after 48 hours of starvation, show a substantial change in the dielectric response that correlates with the viability of the cells. By the examples we present in the paper, we demonstrate the potential of our DEP cytometry technique in applications such as monitoring the effect of drugs or developing optimal protocols for cell electroporation.