Low voltage DC electroporation chip with polyelectrolyte salt bridges

Our electroporation microchip precisely controls the electric field on cells without bubble generation in microchannel by utilizing ionic conductivity of a polyelectrolyte hydrogel. pDADMAC (poly diallyldimethylammonium chloride) delivers electric potential from the electrode reservoir to the cells in microchannels Bubble generation is completely blocked without a high voltage source or a pulse generator . According to the calculation with CFD-ACE, the electric field across the salt bridges is around 1.3 kV/cm which meets the general electropermeation field strength (0.3-1 kV/cm). Electropermeation of K562 human chronic leukemia cells was accomplished in the microchip from 5 V and the electroporation efficiency increased up to 60% with viability of 80%. Transfection and expression of GFP plasmid was also successfully demonstrated.