Affiliations 

  • 1 Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Multimedia University, Melaka 75450, Malaysia
  • 2 Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Multimedia University, Melaka 75450, Malaysia. aminuddin.kayani@staff.mmu.edu.my
  • 3 Institute of Microengineering and Nanoelectronics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Selangor 43600, Malaysia
  • 4 Faculty of Medicine, International University of Africa, Khartoum 12223, Sudan
  • 5 Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group and the Micro Nano Research Facility, RMIT University, Melbourne, Victoria 3001, Australia
Int J Mol Sci, 2019 Jul 23;20(14).
PMID: 31340481 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20143595

Abstract

We employed dielectrophoresis to a yeast cell suspension containing amyloid-beta proteins (Aβ) in a microfluidic environment. The Aβ was separated from the cells and characterized using the gradual dissolution of Aβ as a function of the applied dielectrophoretic parameters. We established the gradual dissolution of Aβ under specific dielectrophoretic parameters. Further, Aβ in the fibril form at the tip of the electrode dissolved at high frequency. This was perhaps due to the conductivity of the suspending medium changing according to the frequency, which resulted in a higher temperature at the tips of the electrodes, and consequently in the breakdown of the hydrogen bonds. However, those shaped as spheroidal monomers experienced a delay in the Aβ fibril transformation process. Yeast cells exposed to relatively low temperatures at the base of the electrode did not experience a positive or negative change in viability. The DEP microfluidic platform incorporating the integrated microtip electrode array was able to selectively manipulate the yeast cells and dissolve the Aβ to a controlled extent. We demonstrate suitable dielectrophoretic parameters to induce such manipulation, which is highly relevant for Aβ-related colloidal microfluidic research and could be applied to Alzheimer's research in the future.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.