|
|
|
Stem Cell Related Patent Number US6589786
| Title: | Cell separation using electric fields | | Inventors: | Mangano, Joseph A.; Vienna, VA, USA
Eppich, Henry M.; Andover, MA, USA | | Summary: | Described herein are methods of separation of selected subpopulations from cell samples via subjecting the samples to electric fields by which the cells are separated on the basis of electroporation characteristics or size. The invention relates to methods and devices which enable discrete objects having a conducting inner core and surrounded by a dielectric membrane to be selectively inactivated by electric fields via irreversible breakdown of their dielectric membrane. Further disclosed are methods for the selection, purification, and purging of desired or undesired biological cells from cell suspensions, wherein electric fields may be utilized to selectively inactivate and render non-viable particular subpopulations of cells in a suspension, while not adversely affecting other desired subpopulations. Claims of the invention include methods by which the cells can be selected on the basis of intrinsic or induced differences in a characteristic electroporation threshold, which may depend on a difference in cell size or on critical dielectric membrane breakdown voltage, among other parameters, such that cell separation results without the need to employ undesirable exogenous agents such as toxins or antibodies. Therapeutic and clinical applications are included, such as in stem cell enrichment or isolation, and in the purging of cancer cells | | Abstract: | The present invention involves methods and devices which enable discrete objects having a conducting inner core, surrounded by a dielectric membrane to be selectively inactivated by electric fields via irreversible breakdown of their dielectric membrane. One important application of the invention is in the selection, purification, and/or purging of desired or undesired biological cells from cell suspensions. According to the invention, electric fields can be utilized to selectively inactivate and render non-viable particular subpopulations of cells in a suspension, while not adversely affecting other desired subpopulations. According to the inventive methods, the cells can be selected on the basis of intrinsic or induced differences in a characteristic electroporation threshold, which can depend, for example, on a difference in cell size and/or critical dielectric membrane breakdown voltage. The invention enables effective cell separation without the need to employ undesirable exogenous agents, such as toxins or antibodies. The inventive method also enables relatively rapid cell separation involving a relatively low degree of trauma or modification to the selected, desired cells. The inventive method has a variety of potential applications in clinical medicine, research, etc., with two of the more important foreseeable applications being stem cell enrichment/isolation, and cancer cell purging. | | US Patent Website: | Click Here for Full Text of Patent | | Title Number: | US6589786 | | Application Number: | US2000000489116 | | Date Filed: | 21/01/2000 | | Date Published: | 08/07/2003 | | Assignee: | None |
|
|
