Fig. 1.

Fatigue testing of single RBCs using amplitude-modulated electrodeformation. (A) Experimental setup for real-time measurement of cell deformation in a microfluidic chip. Schematic shows the key components of the testing system, including the microfluidic device with interdigitated microelectrodes, signal generator for producing modulated sinusoidal carrier wave, and computer for data acquisition, analysis, and modeling. (B) Microscopic images of a representative RBC when the electric field (E-field) is ON and OFF. Dimensions of RBC are measured along x and y axes (a and b, respectively). (C) Microscopic images of cell deformation at 4 representative loading levels arising from applied voltages of 0.5, 0.8, 1.0, and 1.2 V as functions of loading cycles (N = 1, 50, 450, and 900). (Scale bars in B and C, 5 μm.)