Dielectrophoretic Spectra of Glioma U87 Cells Using a Microfluidic Gold
Electrode Array
Abstract
Glioblastoma multiform is the most aggressive and invasive brain cancer
consisting of genetically and phenotypically altering glial cells. It
has massive heterogeneity due to its highly complex and dynamic
microenvironment. Here, we used dielectrophoresis to measuree
electrophysiological properties of glioma cells and quantified
population heterogeneity of U87 glioma cell line. We fabricated a gold
microelectrode array within a microfluidic channel and applied 3 Vpp and
100 kHz, 200 kHz, 300 kHz, 400 kHz, 500 kHz, 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 5 MHz, and 10
MHz frequencies to monitor behavior of glioma cells under the
microscope. We analyzed dielectrophoretic behavior of 500 glioma cells
using the acquired images. We revealed that U87 glioma cells has never
experienced negative dielectrophoresis and exhibited crossover frequency
around 100 kHz -150 kHz. We detected 3 distinct glioma subpopulations by
quantifying dielectrophoretic movement of the cells; 50% of the cells
experienced positive dielectrophoresis starting from 500 kHz to 10 MHz,
30% of the cells were spread in the microchannel by moderate DEP
forces, and other cells were experienced very weak DEP forces. Our
results demonstrate the dielectrophoretic spectra of U87 glioma cell
line and associates the dielectrophoretic responses of single glioma
cells to the population heterogeneity.