Biodielectric phenomenon for actively differentiating malignant and normal cells: An overview

Active research is invested in early diagnosis of malignant cells in order to allow scope for effective treatment. The electrical impedance measurements and the modeling techniques used to perform the calculation for dielectric permittivity, conductivity and relaxation frequency aids in the differentiation of malignant and healthy cells. The literature showed a general trend in data with malignant cells having higher electrical conductivity and lower dielectric permittivity than its surrounding healthier cells. However, the relaxation frequency that correlates with the dielectric loss factor was found twice in magnitude for cancer cells than healthy cells. The water content of a cancer cell is found higher and hence correlates with the shift in the relaxation time. The intracellular sodium ion concentration is also realized to be higher for malignant cells than normal cells and accounts for the depolarized transmembrane potential. Hence, this paper forms the framework for future technological innovation that can be taken into account to actively diagnose cancer cell.