Electrochemical cell lysis on a miniaturized flow-through device

A low-cost miniaturized flow-through device was fabricated using conventional photolithographic technique for lysis of whole cells using electrochemically generated hydroxyl groups. The device used low impedance Au-interdigitatedelectrode (IDE) fabricated on glass substrate to input DC potential to the overlaid PDMS based microchannel. The lysis of human cell line MCF-10A could be achieved between 2 and 5 V of DC input with optimum release of genomic DNA at 5 V for 5 min, which is the lowest potential range reported in any such study. The lysate was extracted to confirm release of genomic DNA and was successfully tested for PCR grade purity of DNA by amplifying a known tumor suppressor gene SM Lambda D4. The proposed method was non-destructive for biocomponents due to absence of Joule heating and shall find use in miniaturized PCR analysis as well as where native protein extraction is required under aseptic conditions. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.