Investigation of the predictability of neural cell survival after exposure to non-uniform electric fields

Cortical rat neurons were trapped by negative dielectrophoresis (DEP) using a planar quadrupole electrode structure. The non-uniform field created by this structure was calculated using a finite element software package. By representing the neuron by a single-shell model the membrane potential induced by the electric field can be estimated. It was investigated whether the physiological state of the trapped neurons can be predicted using this estimation. Experimentally, the physiological state of cortical cells trapped at different amplitudes and frequencies of the input signal was determined using a staining method. The conclusion is that a rough estimate of the minimum frequency and maximum amplitude can be given in order to predict the status of viability of the cells after being dielectrophoretically trapped.