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Quantitative assessment of dielectric parameters for membrane lipid bi‐layers from RF permittivity measurements
Author(s) -
Merla Caterina,
Liberti Micaela,
Apollonio Francesca,
d'Inzeo Guglielmo
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
bioelectromagnetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.435
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1521-186X
pISSN - 0197-8462
DOI - 10.1002/bem.20476
Subject(s) - bioelectromagnetics , permittivity , dielectric , context (archaeology) , debye , materials science , computational physics , range (aeronautics) , experimental data , biological system , membrane , physics , electromagnetic field , chemistry , mathematics , condensed matter physics , statistics , optoelectronics , composite material , paleontology , quantum mechanics , biology , biochemistry
In this article, we propose and validate theoretical and experimental methods to quantitatively assess the Debye dielectric model of membrane lipid bi‐layers. This consists of two steps: permittivity measurements of biological solutions (liposomes), and estimation of the model parameters by inverse application of the Effective Medium Theory. The measurements are conducted in the frequency domain between 100 MHz and 2 GHz using a modified coaxial connector, at the temperatures of 27 and 30 °C. Estimations have been performed using a three‐layered model based on the Maxwell–Wagner formulation. Debye parameters (mean value ± standard error) found from fitting experimental data are: ε s = 11.69 ± 0.09, ε ∞ = 4.00 ± 0.07, f relax = 179.85 ± 6.20 MHz and ε s = (1.1 ± 0.1) × 10 −7 S/m. This model can be used in microdosimetric studies aiming to precisely determine the E‐field distribution in a biological target down to the single cell level. In this context the use of an accurate membrane dielectric model, valid through a wide frequency range, is particularly appropriate. Bioelectromagnetics 30:286–298, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.