The dielectrophoretic separation of infiltrating ductal adenocarcinoma cells (ADCs) from isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) in a ~1.4 mm long Y-shaped microfluidic channel with semi-circular insulating constrictions is numerically investigated. In this work, ADCs (breast cancer cells) and PBMCs' electrophysiological properties were iteratively extracted through the fitting of a single-shell model with the frequency-conductivity data obtained from AC microwell experiments. In the numerical computation, the gradient of the electric field required to generate the necessary dielectrophoretic force within the constriction zone was provided through the application of electric potential across the whole fluidic channel. By adjusting the difference in potentials between the global inlet and outlet of the fluidic device, the minimum (effective) potential difference with the optimum particle transmission probability for ADCs was found. The radius of the semi-circular constrictions at which the effective potential difference was swept to obtain the optimum constriction size was also obtained. Independent particle discretization analysis was also conducted to underscore the accuracy of the numerical solution. The numerical results, which were obtained by the integration of fluid flow, electric current, and particle tracing module in COMSOL v5.3, reveal that PBMCs can be maximally separated from ADCs using a DC power source of 50 V. The article also discusses recirculation or wake formation behavior at high DC voltages (>100 V) even when sorting of cells are achieved. This result is the first step towards the production of a supplementary or confirmatory test device to detect early breast cancer non-invasively.

中文翻译：

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绝缘子-介电电泳法测定浸润性导管腺癌的介电特性和分离优化。

数值研究了弥散的导管腺癌细胞（ADCs）与隔离的外周血单核细胞（PBMCs）在约1.4毫米长的Y形微流体通道中的半圆形绝缘收缩。在这项工作中，通过从交流微孔实验获得的频率电导率数据拟合单壳模型，反复提取ADC（乳腺癌细胞）和PBMC的电生理特性。在数值计算中，通过在整个流体通道中施加电势来提供在收缩区内产生必要的介电泳力所需的电场梯度。通过调整流体装置整体入口和出口之间的电位差，找到了ADC最佳的粒子传输概率的最小（有效）电势差。还获得了扫描有效电位差以获得最佳收缩尺寸的半圆形收缩的半径。还进行了独立的粒子离散化分析，以强调数值解的准确性。通过在COMSOL v5.3中集成流体流动，电流和颗粒跟踪模块获得的数值结果表明，使用50 V直流电源可以将PBMC与ADC最大限度地分离。本文还讨论了再循环或即使在完成电池分选的情况下，在高直流电压（> 100 V）下的尾流形成行为。