Dielectrophoretic discrimination of bovine red blood cell starvation age by buffer selection and membrane cross-linking

We report an interesting buffer electric relaxation time tuning technique, coupled with a glutaraldehyde cross-linking cell fixation reaction, which allows for sensitive dielectrophoretic analysis and discrimination of bovine red blood cell (bRBC) starvation age. The buffer composition is selected such that two easily accessible dielectrophoretic crossover frequencies (cof) exist. Low concentration glutaraldehyde fixation was observed to produce a threefold decrease in the higher cof with a comparable increase in the lower cof also witnessed. More importantly, increased glutaraldehyde fixation concentration significantly increased the higher cof by a factor found to be sensitive to the bRBC starvation age.