A microfluidic chip for single-cell 3D rotation enabling self-adaptive spatial localization

摘要

The three-dimensional (3D) rotation of a single cell is a fundamental manipulation process at the cellular level for physiological and pathological characterization. However, the motion of the cells is affected by factors such as fluid forces and gravitation forces; hence, it is difficult to maintain a stable spatial position of a single cell. Therefore, ensuring stable spatial positions for single-cell rotation is an essential problem that needs to be addressed. In this paper, we present a single cell microfluidic chip based on dielectrophoresis, for single-cell self-adaptive spatial localization and 3D rotation. Numerical simulation was performed to analyze the electric field under different signal configurations, effect of cell self-adaption, and levitation of individual cells. Based on the results, self-adaptive spatial localization and 3D rotation of single cells were successfully realized. By altering the electric signal profile, a greater level of control on cell rotation modes can be obtained. Furthermore, utilizing the out-of-plane rotation, we realize 3D morphology reconstruction of the single cell. The developed single-cell 3D rotation chip is directly applicable to cellular research processes including tomographic imaging and the acquisition of biophysical parameters. Published under license by AIP Publishing.