Effect of shape on the dielectric properties of biological cell suspensions

In this note, we analyze the effect of cell shape on the dielectric and conductometric behavior of biological cell suspension, in a frequency range where the interfacial polarization characteristic of highly heterogeneous systems occurs. We consider two different families of curves, both of them capable of generating a variety of symmetric or asymmetric shapes, ranging from oval, to dog-bone like, to lemniscate curves. These curves, which differ from those generally employed in dielectric models of biological cell suspensions, describe in principle different cells including discocytes, cup-shaped cells, pear-shaped cells, dumbbells and cells with spherical protrusions or invaginations. Our analysis, based on a numerical solution of the Laplace equation by means of boundary element methods, is carried out in the attempt of separating the contributions associated with the different electrical properties of the dielectric media involved from the ones mainly associated with the shape of the cell. We determine the dielectric strength of the dielectric dispersion for a variety of cell shapes and the phenomenological correlation between this parameter of the relaxation and the cell geometry is briefly discussed and commented. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.