Cellular spin resonance (CSR) or electrorotation is the spinning of cells or other particulate matter in rotating electric fields. The spin rate of the (bio)particle varies markedly with the applied frequency and often is seen to have rather sharp maxima as the frequency is varied. In certain frequency ranges, living cells often are observed to undergo a striking inversion of their spin rate and then spin counter-clockwise ( c c w ) while the direction of rotation of the applied electric field is clockwise (cw).The CSR spectra are presumably due to dipolar interactions with the applied field, as are the spectra obtained by straightforward dielectrophoresis (DEP) techniques. The two spectra, however, differ radically in the low frequency ranges (below about I MHz). It is our objective to explain this apparently anomalous behavior.We believe that the anomaly appears primarily because one is comparing rotational with translational force responses. In the DEP techniques, the simpler translational force arising from the comparative polarizability of cell versus medium (water) gives a straightforward measure of the differential polarizability owing to volume and surface effects pro forma. In the CSR techniques the spin rate reflects the torque on the cells and hence emphasizes polarization at the outer periphery of the cells rather than that of the average overall polarizability.The problem is considered in terms of a living or dead cell rotating with an angular velocity R in a fluid medium of viscosity r) when it is subject to an electric Weld rotating at angular frequency w . It is observed in many experiments that R < w , and also that the sign of R for the same cell can change from cw to ccw and back to cw as the applied frequency w of the cw electric field is increased. Moreover, the sign and magnitude of the CSR spectra differ for living and dead cells. All of these experimental results can be explained quantitatively by using Maxwell's equations and the dielectric properties of a lossy dielectric sphere in an ionically conductive dielectric fluid.
