Enhancing the Cell Viability in High Throughput Deterministic Lateral Displacement Separation of Circulating Tumor Cells

Abstract

Cancer is among a major health concerns all over the world. Cancer metastasis, which defines as the migration of malignant cells from original sites to distant organs, is the main reason of death due to cancer and there is growing evidence that Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs) are responsible for initiating the metastasis. Due to the importance of these bioparticles in biotechnology and medicine, there is a growing interest to study and separate them through different techniques especially microfluidic label-free technologies. One such technology, termed Deterministic Lateral Displacement (DLD) has recently shown promising abilities to separate cells and particles of different sizes. However, DLD is a separation method that takes advantages of the predictable flow laminae of low Reynolds number (Re) fluid flow. In order to achieve higher device throughput, effects of higher Reynolds number flow on DLD device should be studied. Additionally, the higher flow rates would apply higher forces and shear stresses on the cells which threaten the cell’s viability. In this study, employing numerical simulation, the effect of high Re number on DLD device for separating cancer cells has been investigated. Specifically, we conducted force analysis and by focusing on the downstream gap distance between the posts, we improved the device which results in less cell deformation. Our developed numerical model and presented results lay the groundwork for design and fabrication of high-throughput DLD microchips for enhanced separation of CTCs.