Magnetophoresis and Electromagnetophoresis of Microparticles in Liquids
Magnetophoresis and Electromagnetophoresis of Microparticles in Liquids
Magnetophoresis and Electromagnetophoresis of Microparticles in Liquids
DOI 10.1007/s00216-003-2354-7
REVIEW
Received: 4 August 2003 / Revised: 16 October 2003 / Accepted: 17 October 2003 / Published online: 13 December 2003
Springer-Verlag 2003
Abstract The magnetic field-induced migration of particles in liquids is a highly-promising technique for the micro-separation analysis of bioparticles, such as cells and
large DNA. Here, new methods that make use of magnetophoresis and electromagnetophoresis to induce the migration of microparticles in liquids are briefly reviewed.
Magnetic force and Lorentz force are utilized in the new
methods. Some typical examples of the use of these methods are described, and the advantages of using a superconducting magnet for them are demonstrated.
ing new migration analysis techniques for single bio-microparticles. In this review, our recent studies on the magnetophoresis and electromagnetophoresis of microparticles
in liquids are summarized and their advantages are demonstrated.
Introduction
8 =
Most molecules in nature exhibit their functions by forming aggregates or microparticles. Living cells, DNA and
proteins all belong to this category. Indeed, in the case of
bioparticles, every particle may have an individual property that is slightly different from the properties of the
other particles. However, ordinary separation methods are
unable to analyze such individual particles; although many
methods for the separation or migration analyses of small
ions and small molecules have been developed (as typified by the current popularity of HPLC and CE), for microparticles of large molecular weight, including DNA
greater than 40 kbp and proteins larger than 104 Da, only
limited methods (such as sedimentation and cell sorting)
are currently available. Therefore, we need to invent new
analytical principles that can separate and characterize individual bioparticles in liquids.
Magnetophoresis and electromagnetophoresis, which
both use a magnetic field to cause migration, are promis-
Magnetophoresis
General principles of magnetophoresis
S P
) = JUDG8 =
9%
(1)
S P
9 % %
(2)
Therefore, an inhomogeneous magnetic field can exert a
force on a particle in liquid. During the migration of the
particle in liquid, the drag force (as expressed by Stokes
Law) acts on the particle, FD = 6rv, where is viscosity and r the radius of the particle. Therefore, the magnetophoretic velocity can be expressed as follows:
Y=
S P
U % %
(3)
Therefore, the magnetophoretic velocity is directly proportional to (pm), r2, and (B)B.
Analytical separation techniques
Field-Flow Fractionation (FFF) is an effective method for
the separation of microparticles in liquid [1]. An external
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Fig. 2 Photographic representation of the magnetophoretic trapping of red blood cells at a flow rate of 1.0 L h-1. The magnetic
force acted on the red blood cells to push them downward, and the
medium that contained 0.1 M MnCl2 moved upward. Therefore,
the red blood cells were trapped at the position where the magnetic
force balanced with the drag force due to the bulk flow. Pictures
are shown at 3 s intervals from panels 1 to 6
Fig. 3 Counter current magnetophoretic fractionation of polystyrene particles with diameters of: a 2.77; b 5.87; c 9.14 m in
0.6 M manganese(II) chloride solution
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Fig. 4 An example of magnetophoretic behavior of MnCl2 aqueous droplets dispersed in 2-fluorotoluene phase. The concentration
of Mn(II) was 0.04 M
Fig. 5 The magnetophoretic mobility as a function of the concentration of MnCl2 in the droplets. The solid line was the calculated
value using Eq. 3
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Electromagnetophoresis
Principles of electromagnetophoresis
The general concept of electromagnetophoresis (EMP) is
the application of Lorentz force to migration analysis. Electromagnetophoresis is a phenomenon where particles in an
electrolyte solution migrate in the direction perpendicular to
both a magnetic field and an electric current when the electric current is applied through the conductive fluid and the
homogeneous magnetic field is perpendicular to the current.
The basic theory of electromagnetophoresis was proposed by Kolin in 1953 [24]. When an electric current of
density j (A m2) passes through a conductive fluid of volume V (m3) perpendicular to a magnetic field, the fluid invariably experiences a force, the Lorentz force, expressed
as
) = +M9
(4)
I + S 6
(5)
S I
I + S
L%U
6 &:
(6)
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Fig. 8 Experimental setup for the observation of electromagnetophoresis: a superconducting magnet; b current source; c ammeter; d video recorder; e monitor; f syringe pump; g light source;
h CCD camera; i optical microscope; j capillary flow cell
of electromagnetophoresis in a capillary flow system under the high magnetic field. A square fused-silica capillary cell with 100 100 m inner section and 2 cm long
was set in the homogeneous magnetic field of the superconducting magnet. Both edges of the fused-silica capillary cell were equipped with Ag | AgCl electrodes and connected by PTFE tube. Using this apparatus, electromagnetophoretic velocities of microparticles, such as polystyrene
(PS), carbon, yeast cells and red blood cells (RBCs), were
measured. Figure 9 shows the electromagnetophoretic behavior of a PS particle with 20 m diameter in a flowing
aqueous solution. The direction of the flow in Fig. 9 was
from the right-hand side to the left-hand side. When a cur-
Fig. 10 Electromagnetophoretic velocity of microparticles at various applied currents. The magnitude of the homogeneous magnetic field was 10 T. Plots were: a PS particles with 10 m diameter; b red blood cells; c PS particles with 6 m diameter; d yeasts;
e carbon particles with 6 m diameter
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Table 1 Electrical conductives of particle p and fluid determined
f from the electromagnetophoresis
Particle Diameter
(m)
PS
Carbon
Yeast
RBC
0.112
0.110
0.112
0.019
3, 6, 10, 15, 20
6, 20
7.2
9.4
0
727
2103
6103
0.01910.0084
0.06680.0080
0.06740.0078
0.01070.0011
Diameter/
m
iD/A
FA/pN
FAr-l/
Nm-1
PS
PS
Carbon
15
20
20
549
311
309
684
997
426
93.7
99.7
38.7
rent was applied, the particle moved diagonally to the direction of the flow due to the effect of electromagnetic
buoyancy. Figure 10 shows the migration velocities of
particles at a fixed homogeneous magnetic field of 10 T.
The polystyrene, yeasts, RBCs and carbon particles all
acted as insulators, although the carbon particle is intrinsically conductive. The apparent conductivities of the microparticles calculated by Eq. 6 using the observed migration velocities are given in Table 1. The calculated conductivities of the particles were clearly different from the
intrinsic values. This suggests that the apparent conductivity reflects a surface conductivity of the particles rather
than the intrinsic conductivity.
force, could be desorbed by a reversed electromagnetophoretic force by switching the direction of the current.
The current required to desorb the particles was measured,
and the adsorption force was calculated using Eq. 5. Table 2
gives the average values of the desorbed currents, and the
adsorption forces of PS particles with 15 m and 20 m
diameters and carbon particles with 20 m diameters. The
values of adsorption force divided by the radius for the PS
particles are almost constant regardless of the size, as shown
in Table 2. Because the electrostatic repulsion force is
very small in high ionic strength media, the adsorption
force of PS particles is mainly governed by van der Waals
force, which is represented by the equation [36]
)$ U = $ '
(7)
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Fig. 11 Schematic illustration of the adsorption-desorption control of a particle by electromagnetophoretic force by switching the
direction of the applied current
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