[Dependence of dielectrophoretic force on the size of cylindrical particles by the example of a suspension of erythrocytes]

Abstract

For the modeling of erythrocyte rouleaux (linear cell aggregations), we propose an approximation procedure for the dipole moment in short cylinders, which contains the case of ellipsoidal bodies only as a first approximation. The method allows one to introduce corrections that are more representative for these particles. Depending on the number of erythrocytes forming an aggregation, i.e., on different but discrete measures of rouleaux lengths, the dielectrophoretic force is calculated and represented against the frequency of the applied a.c. field. As a result, frequency regions in the upper MHz range appear in which the strength and direction of DEP forces are different for different rouleaux sizes. This property is suitable for the detection and spatial separation of rouleaux populations of different length in blood samples by means of a microelectronic array.