Label-free, non-contact determination of resting membrane potential using dielectrophoresis.

Measurement of cellular resting membrane potential (RMP) is important in understanding ion channels and their role in regulation of cell function across a wide range of cell types. However, methods available for the measurement of RMP (including patch clamp, microelectrodes, and potential-sensitive fluorophores) are expensive, slow, open to operator bias, and often result in cell destruction. We present non-contact, label-free membrane potential estimation which uses dielectrophoresis to determine the cytoplasm conductivity slope as a function of medium conductivity.

On the low-frequency dispersion observed in dielectrophoresis spectra.

The foundation of dielectrophoresis (DEP) as a tool for biological investigation is the use of the Clausius-Mossotti (C-M) factor to model the observed behaviour of cells experiencing DEP across a frequency range. Nevertheless, it is also the case that at lower frequencies, the DEP spectrum deviates from predictions; there exists a rise in DEP polarisability, which varies in frequency and magnitude with different cell types and medium conductivities. In order to evaluate the origin of this effect, we have studied DEP spectra from five cell types (erythrocytes, platelets, neurons, HeLa cancer cells and monocytes) in several conditions including medium conductivity and cell treatment.

Circadian rhythmicity in murine blood: Electrical effects of malaria infection and anemia.

Circadian rhythms are biological adaptations to the day-night cycle, whereby cells adapt to changes in the external environment or internal physiology according to the time of day. Whilst many cellular clock mechanisms involve gene expression feedback mechanisms, clocks operate even where gene expression is absent. For example, red blood cells (RBCs) do not have capacity for gene expression, and instead possess an electrophysiological oscillator where cytosolic potassium plays a key role in timekeeping.

V-related extracellular potentials observed in red blood cells.

Even in nonexcitable cells, the membrane potential V is fundamental to cell function, with roles from ion channel regulation, development, to cancer metastasis. V arises from transmembrane ion concentration gradients; standard models assume homogeneous extracellular and intracellular ion concentrations, and that V only exists across the cell membrane and has no significance beyond it. Using red blood cells, we show that this is incorrect, or at least incomplete; V is detectable beyond the cell surface, and modulating V produces quantifiable and consistent changes in extracellular potential.