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Sperm cells manipulation employing dielectrophoresis

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Abstract

Infertility studies are an important growing field, where new methods for the manipulation, enrichment and selection of sperm cells are required. Microfluidic techniques offer attractive advantages such as requirement of low sample volume and short processing times in the range of second or minutes. Presented here is the application of insulator-based dielectrophoresis (iDEP) for the enrichment and separation of mature and spermatogenic cells by employing a microchannel with cylindrical insulating structures with DC electric potentials in the range of 200–1500 V. The results demonstrated that iDEP has the potential to concentrate sperm cells and distinguish between mature and spermatogenic cells by exploiting the differences in shape which lead to differences in electric polarization. Viability assessments revealed that a significant percentage of the cells are viable after the dielectrophoretic treatment, opening the possibility for iDEP to be developed as a tool in infertility studies.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by CINVESTAV-Monterrey. The authors would like to thank MSc. Hector Moncada-Hernández for support with COMSOL simulations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biophysics of Ion Channels and Nanotechnology Laboratory and Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del IPN (CINVESTAV) Unidad Monterrey, 66600, Apodaca, NL, Mexico

    E. Rosales-Cruzaley, P. A. Cota-Elizondo, D. Sánchez & Blanca H. Lapizco-Encinas

  2. Microscale Bioseparations Laboratory and Chemical and Biomedical Engineering Department, Rochester Institute of Technology, 160 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY, 14623-5604, USA

    Blanca H. Lapizco-Encinas

Authors
  1. E. Rosales-Cruzaley
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  2. P. A. Cota-Elizondo
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  3. D. Sánchez
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  4. Blanca H. Lapizco-Encinas
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Correspondence to Blanca H. Lapizco-Encinas.

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Rosales-Cruzaley, E., Cota-Elizondo, P.A., Sánchez, D. et al. Sperm cells manipulation employing dielectrophoresis. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 36, 1353–1362 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-012-0838-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-012-0838-6

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