Issue 8, 2014

Focusing of mammalian cells under an ultrahigh pH gradient created by unidirectional electropulsation in a confined microchamber

Abstract

The transport and manipulation of cells in microfluidic structures are often critically required in cellular analysis. Cells typically make consistent movement in a dc electric field in a single direction, due to their electrophoretic mobility or electroosmotic flow or the combination of the two. Here we demonstrate that mammalian cells focus to the middle of a closed microfluidic chamber under the application of unidirectional direct current pulses. With experimental and computational data, we show that under the pulses electrochemical reactions take place in the confined microscale space and create an ultrahigh and nonlinear pH gradient (∼2 orders of magnitude higher than the ones in protein isoelectric focusing) at the middle of the chamber. The varying local pH affects the cell surface charge and the electrophoretic mobility, leading to focusing in free solution. Our approach provides a new and simple method for focusing and concentrating mammalian cells at the microscale.

Graphical abstract: Focusing of mammalian cells under an ultrahigh pH gradient created by unidirectional electropulsation in a confined microchamber

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
29 Jan 2014
Accepted
28 May 2014
First published
09 Jun 2014
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY-NC license

Chem. Sci., 2014,5, 3331-3337

Author version available

Focusing of mammalian cells under an ultrahigh pH gradient created by unidirectional electropulsation in a confined microchamber

D. N. Loufakis, Z. Cao, S. Ma, D. Mittelman and C. Lu, Chem. Sci., 2014, 5, 3331 DOI: 10.1039/C4SC00319E

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