Determination of Sensitive Frequency Bands for Cytotoxicity Analysis Using Microwave Dielectric Measurements

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58190/ijamec.2025.148

Keywords:

Dielectric properties, Electromagnetics, Frequency optimization, Microwave, Multi-criteria analysis

Abstract

This study presents a comprehensive frequency-resolution analysis framework to identify biologically significant frequency bands for cancer cell monitoring in the 10–20 GHz range. By integrating statistical significance, effect size, dielectric deviation magnitude, and temporal stability analysis, the spectral response of cell cultures exposed to cytotoxic agents was systematically evaluated. The results revealed a dual-optimization environment: the 13.9–14.2 GHz range showed a statistically significant global maximum for signal coherence, while higher frequencies demonstrated superior dielectric contrast due to γ-dispersion mechanisms. To resolve this balance, a composite sensitivity score and band-averaged analysis were used. The evaluation identified the 16–18 GHz band as the optimum working region, offering significantly enhanced physical contrast and temporal robustness while maintaining a composite score almost identical to the statistical peak (<0.7% difference). This study demonstrates that data-driven, multi-criteria frequency selection provides a robust foundation for sensor design and paves the way for the development of highly sensitive, frequency-selective microwave biosensors for toxicological screening.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

[1] C. Gabriel, S. Gabriel, and E. Corthout, "The dielectric properties of biological tissues: I. Literature survey," Phys. Med. Biol., vol. 41, no. 11, pp. 2231–2249, Nov. 1996, doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/41/11/001.

[2] R. Pethig, "Dielectric properties of biological materials: Biophysical and medical applications," IEEE Trans. Electr. Insul., vol. EI-19, no. 5, pp. 453–474, Oct. 1984, doi: 10.1109/TEI.1984.298769.

[3] F. Artis, D. Dubuc, J.-J. Fournié, M. Poupot, and K. Grenier, "Microwave dielectric spectroscopy for biological cells suspensions analysis and proliferation evaluation," in Proc. 44th Eur. Microw. Conf. (EuMC), Oct. 2014, pp. 275–278, doi: 10.1109/EuMC.2014.6986423.

[4] S. Sikiru, N. Yahya, H. Soleimani, A. M. Ali, and Y. Afeez, "Impact of ionic-electromagnetic field interaction on Maxwell-Wagner polarization in porous medium," J. Mol. Liq., vol. 318, p. 114039, Nov. 2020, doi: 10.1016/j.molliq.2020.114039.

[5] B. Greenebaum and F. S. Barnes, Eds., Bioengineering and Biophysical Aspects of Electromagnetic Fields, 3rd ed. Boca Raton, FL, USA: CRC Press, 2018, doi: 10.1201/9781315221540.

[6] C. G. Juan, K. Grenier, M. H. Zarifi, A. Ebrahimi, and F. Martin, "Planar microwave sensors: State of the art and applications," IEEE Access, vol. 13, pp. 143985–144038, 2025, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2025.3599112.

[7] P. Mehrotra, B. Chatterjee, and S. Sen, "EM-wave biosensors: A review of RF, microwave, mm-wave and optical sensing," Sensors, vol. 19, no. 5, p. 1013, Jan. 2019, doi: 10.3390/s19051013.

[8] K. Heileman, J. Daoud, and M. Tabrizian, "Dielectric spectroscopy as a viable biosensing tool for cell and tissue characterization and analysis," Biosens. Bioelectron., vol. 49, pp. 348–359, Nov. 2013, doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2013.04.017.

[9] G. S. Kulkarni and Z. Zhong, "Detection beyond the Debye screening length in a high-frequency nanoelectronic biosensor," Nano Lett., vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 719–723, Feb. 2012, doi: 10.1021/nl203666a.

[10] G. Guarin, M. Hofmann, J. Nehring, R. Weigel, G. Fischer, and D. Kissinger, "Miniature microwave biosensors: Noninvasive applications," IEEE Microw. Mag., vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 71–86, May 2015, doi: 10.1109/MMM.2015.2394024.

[11] S. Guha, F. I. Jamal, and C. Wenger, "A review on passive and integrated near-field microwave biosensors," Biosensors, vol. 7, no. 4, p. 42, Dec. 2017, doi: 10.3390/bios7040042.

[12] Y. S. Cho and S.-J. Gwak, "Novel sensing technique for stem cells differentiation using dielectric spectroscopy of their proteins," Sensors, vol. 23, no. 5, p. 2397, Jan. 2023, doi: 10.3390/s23052397.

[13] Y. Shi, X. Bai, J. Yang, X. Wu, and L. Wang, "Optimized measurement methods and systems for the dielectric properties of active biological tissues in the 10Hz-100 MHz frequency range," Front. Physiol., vol. 16, Jan. 2025, doi: 10.3389/fphys.2025.1537537.

[14] F. D. Tehrani, M. D. O’Toole, and D. J. Collins, "Tutorial on impedance and dielectric spectroscopy for single-cell characterisation on microfluidic platforms: theory, practice, and recent advances," Lab Chip, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 837–855, 2025, doi: 10.1039/D4LC00882K.

[15] T. F. Ateş and A. O. Özkan, "Metamaterial-based microwave sensors," in Contemporary Research in Engineering. Konya, Turkey: All Sciences Academy, 2025, pp. 140–154.

[16] W. Sun et al., "Biosensor with microchannel for broadband dielectric characterization of nanoliter cell suspensions up to 110 GHz," Biosensors, vol. 14, no. 7, p. 327, Jun. 2024, doi: 10.3390/bios14070327.

[17] T. F. Ateş, "Hücre canlılık tespiti i̇çin iletim hattı tabanlı biyosensör tasarımı ve uygulaması," Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Elect. Electron. Eng., Necmettin Erbakan Univ., Konya, Turkey, 2025.

[18] A. La Gioia et al., "Open-ended coaxial probe technique for dielectric measurement of biological tissues: Challenges and common practices," Diagnostics, vol. 8, no. 2, p. 40, Jun. 2018, doi: 10.3390/diagnostics8020040.

[19] C. Aydinalp, S. Joof, and T. Yilmaz, "Towards accurate microwave characterization of tissues: Sensing depth analysis of open-ended coaxial probes with ex vivo rat breast and skin tissues," Diagnostics, vol. 11, no. 2, p. 338, Feb. 2021, doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11020338.

[20] M. Hussein, F. Awwad, D. Jithin, H. El Hasasna, K. Athamneh, and R. Iratni, "Breast cancer cells exhibits specific dielectric signature in vitro using the open-ended coaxial probe technique from 200 MHz to 13.6 GHz," Sci. Rep., vol. 9, no. 1, p. 4681, Mar. 2019, doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41124-1.

[21] A. Šarolić and A. Matković, "Dielectric permittivity measurement using open-ended coaxial probe—Modeling and simulation based on the simple capacitive-load model," Sensors, vol. 22, no. 16, p. 6024, Jan. 2022, doi: 10.3390/s22166024.

[22] Keysight 85070E Dielectric Probe Kit Technical Overview, Keysight Technologies, Santa Rosa, CA, USA, 2017.

[23] S. K. Mahto, P. Chandra, and S. W. Rhee, "In vitro models, endpoints and assessment methods for the measurement of cytotoxicity," Toxicol. Environ. Health Sci., vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 87–93, May 2010, doi: 10.1007/BF03216487.

[24] A. Amanati Shahri, A. H. Omidvar, G. Pamplona Rehder, and A. L. C. Serrano, "A microwave-based microfluidic cell detecting biosensor for biological quantification using the metallic nanowire-filled membrane technology," Sensors, vol. 22, no. 9, p. 3265, Jan. 2022, doi: 10.3390/s22093265.

[25] J.-M. Zhao et al., "Microwave biosensor for the detection of growth inhibition of human liver cancer cells at different concentrations of chemotherapeutic drug," Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol., vol. 12, May 2024, doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1398189.

[26] S. Kamiloglu, G. Sari, T. Ozdal, and E. Capanoglu, "Guidelines for cell viability assays," Food Frontiers, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 332–349, 2020, doi: 10.1002/fft2.44.

[27] Y. Lu, I. Cohen, X. S. Zhou, and Q. Tian, "Feature selection using principal feature analysis," in Proc. 15th ACM Int. Conf. Multimedia (MM '07), New York, NY, USA, Sep. 2007, pp. 301–304, doi: 10.1145/1291233.1291297.

[28] C.-Y. J. Peng and L.-T. Chen, "Beyond Cohen’s d: Alternative effect size measures for between-subject designs," J. Exp. Educ., vol. 82, no. 1, pp. 22–50, Jan. 2014, doi: 10.1080/00220973.2012.745471.

[29] A. Malhi and R. X. Gao, "PCA-based feature selection scheme for machine defect classification," IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 1517–1525, Dec. 2004, doi: 10.1109/TIM.2004.834070.

[30] D. Kallogjeri and J. F. Piccirillo, "A simple guide to effect size measures," JAMA Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg., vol. 149, no. 5, pp. 447–451, May 2023, doi: 10.1001/jamaoto.2023.0159.

[31] M. Zhao, G. Downey, and C. P. O’Donnell, "Exploration of microwave dielectric and near infrared spectroscopy with multivariate data analysis for fat content determination in ground beef," Food Control, vol. 68, pp. 260–270, Oct. 2016, doi: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2016.03.031.

[32] T. F. Ateş and A. O. Özkan, "Evaluation of cytotoxicity effects by frequency response mapping," in Proc. 6th Int. Conf. Eng. Nat. Soc. Sci., Konya, Turkey, Nov. 2025, pp. 160–162.

Downloads

Published

31-12-2025

Issue

Section

Research Articles

How to Cite

[1]
T. F. ATEŞ and A. O. ÖZKAN, “Determination of Sensitive Frequency Bands for Cytotoxicity Analysis Using Microwave Dielectric Measurements”, J. Appl. Methods Electron. Comput., vol. 13, no. 4, pp. 112–120, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.58190/ijamec.2025.148.

Similar Articles

21-30 of 161

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.