Dielectric Relaxation in Biological Systems: Physical Principles, Methods, and Applications

The study of dielectric properties of biological systems and their components is important not only for fundamental scientific knowledge but also for its applications in medicine, biology, and biotechnology. The associated technique - known as dielectric spectroscopy - has enabled researchers to quickly and accurately acquire time- or frequency-spectra of permittivity and conductivity and permitted the derivation and testing of realistic electrical models for cells and organelles. This text covers the theoretical basis and practical aspects of the study of dielectric properties of biological systems, such as water, electrolyte and polyelectrolytes, solutions of biological macromolecules, cells suspensions and cellular systems. The authors' combined efforts provide a comprehensive and cohesive book that takes advantage of the expertise of multiple scientists involved in cutting-edge research in the specific sub-fields of bio-dielectric spectroscopy while maintaining its self-consistency through numerous discussions.The first six chapters cover theoretical, methodological and experimental aspects of relaxation and dispersion in biological dielectrics at molecular, cellular and cellular aggregate level. Applications are presented in the following chapters which are organized in the order of increased complexity, beginning with pure water, amino acids and proteins, continuing with vesicles and simple cells such as erythrocytes, and then with more complex, organelle-containing cells and cellular aggregates. Due to its broad coverage, the text could be used as a reference book by researchers, and as a textbook for upper-level undergraduate classes and graduate classes in (bio) physics, medical physics, quantitative biology, and engineering.

Table of Contents:
Part I: Theoretical Background 1.1: Yuri Feldman, Paul Ben Ishai, Alexander Puzenko, and Valerica Raicu: Elementary Theory of the Interaction of Electromagnetic Fields with Dielectric Materials 1.2: Valerica Raicu: Theory of Suspension of Particles in Homogeneous Fields 1.3: Valerica Raicu, Katsuhisa Sekine, and Koji Asami: Dielectric Models and Computer Simulations for Complex Aggregates Part II: Experimental Methods and Techniques 2.1: Udo Kaatze, Yuri Feldman, Paul Ben Ishai, Anna Greenbaum-Gutina and Valerica Raicu: Experimental Methods 2.2: Yuri Feldman, Paul Ben Ishai, and Valerica Raicu: Electrode Polarization 2.3: Anna Greenbaum, Paul Ben Ishai, Yuri Feldman: Analysis of Experimental Data and Fitting Problems Part III: Applications 3.1: Udo Kaatze: Dielectric Relaxation of Water 3.2: Irina Ermolina and Yuri Feldman: Amino Acids and Peptides 3.3: Masahiro Nakanishi and Alexei P. Sokolov: Dielectric Spectroscopy of Hydrated Biomacromolecules 3.4: Irina Ermolina, Yoshihito Hayashi, Valerica Raicu, and Yuri Feldman: Proteins in Solutions and Natural Membranes 3.5: Federico Bordi and Stefano Sarti: Dielectric Properties of Polyelectrolytes and Lipid Vesicles 3.6: Koji Asami: Radio-Frequency Dielectric Properties of Cell Suspensions 3.7: Yoshihito Hayashi and Koji Asami: Dielectric Properties of Blood and Blood Components 3.8: Andreas Caduff and Mark Talary: Glucose Detection From Skin Dielectric Measurements

About the Author :
Valerica Raicu holds a PhD degree in Biophysics from the University of Bucharest, Romania. Between 1991 and 2004, he has held research and academic positions at the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Romanian Academy (Bucharest, Romania), Kochi Medical School (Kochi, Japan), and the University of Toronto (Toronto, Canada). In 2004, Raicu joined the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as an Assistant Professor of Physics. He is currently a Professor and Chair of the Physics Department and an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Biological Sciences. Professor Raicu has authored or co-authored over forty peer-reviewed papers and several book chapters on various topics in biophysics, soft condensed matter physics and photonics, as well as a book - "Integrated Molecular and Cellular Biophysics" (2008). Yuri Feldman is at the Department of Applied Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI). He received his M.S. degree in Radio Physics and the Ph.D. degree in Molecular Physics from the Kazan State University, USSR, in 1973 and 1981 respectively. From 1973 to 1991 he was with Laboratory of Molecular Biophysics of Kazan Institute of Biology of the Academy of Science of the USSR. Since 1991 he has been with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he is currently the Full Professor and the Head of the Dielectric Spectroscopy Laboratory. His current interests include broadband dielectric spectroscopy in frequency and time domain; theory of dielectric polarization and relaxation; relaxation phenomena and strange kinetics in disordered materials; dielectric properties of biological systems. He is an internationally acknowledged expert in the area of soft condensed matter physics and dielectric spectroscopy.

Review :
This book is a tremendously useful tool for researchers who wish to understand dielectric relaxation methods aimed at studying biological materials. It covers experimental techniques, data analyses, as well as models, in each case ranging from historical backgrounds to state-of-the-art approaches. Challenging features of biological materials such as interfacial dielectric effects and the role of water are covered in detail by experts in the field. The book provides many examples of dielectric signatures of biological processes and illustrates these by informative figures. The textbook presents a view of dielectric theory, analysis and associated experimental techniques with a focus on biological applications. It addresses the determination of permittivity over a wide range of frequencies and conductivities and presents the methodology for dealing with electrode polarization by experimental techniques and analysis. The text presents a compendium of data, contemporary analyses and results that delineate the system dynamics on biologically interesting systems, ranging from water to macromolecules to membranes to cells. This text is intended for scientists who need information on such systems and/or who want to augment their research arsenal with dielectric measurements. This text is well annotated with useful references.