Dielectric spectroscopy and electro-rotation of biological cells

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Abstract
The unusual dielectric properties of biological cells are discussed. These properties are distinguished by two main features, very high dielectric constants in excess of one thousand observed at low frequencies and three distinct relaxation processes characterized by time constants ranging from picoto milli-seconds. The mechanism responsible for these relaxation processes are summarized. The traditional technique to determine the dielectric properties of cells are frequency domain spectroscopy and, more recently, time domain spectroscopy (TDS). During the past few years the frequency dependence of the torque which cells experience in an rotating electrical field has become an additional valuable technique to determine dielectric cell properties. The fundamentals of the electro-rotation technique are stated. The comparative advantages and disadvantages of dielectric spectroscopy and electro-rotation are discussed.