The effect of irregularity on the dielectric dispersion characteristics of spherical cellular suspension

The dielectric dispersion characteristics of cellular suspensions are fundamentally determined based on the analogy to composite dielectric materials when periodically and discrete arrangement of cells is assumed. However, under native physiological conditions, when flocculation and clamping events usually occur, those assumptions are usually not valid. In the framework of this study, an examination of irregularity effect on the dispersion characteristics of spherical cellular suspensions is presented. Here, the permittivity spectra of the suspensions have been determined by both measurements of living K562 cell suspensions and finite numerical simulations. Based on the measured and simulated spectra, the dispersion characteristics of the suspensions, for several destinies and arrangements of cells, have been quantitatively analyzed using the Havriliak–Negami empirical formula. Generally, a strong correlation between the low dispersion characteristics was observed as the concentration and density of the cells was increased. In addition, all characteristics found to be significantly deviated in comparison to the characteristics of a periodically arrayed suspension. However, when low-dense arrangement was assumed, the correlation found to be much lower when all characteristics found to be less perturbated. Based on a simple model of interacting cells, it is suggested that those deviations are related to intercellular interactions between adjacent cells.