Procedure and device for the fusion of cells
AssigneeKerforshungsanlage Julich
InventorUlrich Zimmermann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Disclosed is a process and device for fusing cells in which the cells are doped with magnetic particles and exposed to a nonhomogeneous magnetic field which permeates the fusion space in such a way that the doped cells collect close together, and then, in order to create the disruptions in the membrane structures of the adjacent cells, the cells are exposed either to the pulse of an electric field of at least the level of the breakdown voltage or to chemicals which cause the disruptions in the membrane structure such as polyethylene glycol, or to inactivated viruses which cause the disruptions in the membrane structure such as Sendai viruses.
Claims14
A process of fusing cells comprising the steps of:
- doping the cells in a cell suspension with magnetic particles;
- exposing the cells to a nonhomogeneous magnetic field which permeates a fusion space containing said cell suspension in such a way that the doped cells collect together at a distance from each other that will enable said cells to be fused to an adjacent cell;
- exposing the cells to an external nonhomogeneous electrical field with a frequency in the range from 5 kHz to 2 MHz and an intensity of between 10V/cm and 2000V/cm, depending on the size of the cells, for a time period sufficient to enable the cells to line up, after the cells collect in the area of the highest field density of the magnetic field;
- exposing the cells to a means for creating dispruptions in the membrane structure of the adjacent cells which results in fusion of the cells when the cells contact each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.