Figure 4.

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(a) Schematic of the microfluidic device employed to sort hepatic mitochondria. The device consists of one inlet channel (I) and five outlet channels (O: outer, MO: mid-outer, C: center) with reservoirs at all channel ends (not shown). The mitochondrial sample is injected into the inlet reservoir and transported through the device via electroosmosis. The zoomed in region shows the constriction area where inhomogeneous electric fields are generated, creating areas of high $\nabla |\overrightarrow{E}{|}^2$to induce DEP. Scale bar is 20 μm. (b) Fluorescence microscopy image of the constriction region during a mitochondria sorting experiment. Applied potentials are +60 V in I, −60 V in C, and 0 V in MO and O. As shown, large particles focus into the center outlet channel (C) due to greater nDEP forces repelling them from areas of high $\nabla |\overrightarrow{E}{|}^2$ (Multimedia view) .