An Analysis of Unicellular Mass Transfer Using a Microfabricated Experimental Technique

This study introduces a microfabricated chamber which allows individual cells to be maintained between two different flow paths while kinetic volume changes and membrane permeability are measured. For HBL-100 cells, the data yielded a water permeability (L_p) of 1.1 ±0.5 μm/(min-atm) (mean ± 1 standard deviation) (N = 5) during the uncoupled transport of water at 22°C. In the presence of 6M glycerol, the water permeability (L_p), permeability coefficient (P_s), and the reflection coefficient (σ_s) were determined to be 2.0± 0.63 μm/(min-atm), 2.7×10E-5 ±6.1×10E-6 cm-sec⁻¹, and 0.76±.05 (N = 6). No previous values of these coefficients could be found for HBL-100 cells.