{"title":"Inertial co-focusing of heterogeneous particles in hybrid microfluidic channels with constantly variable cross-sections","authors":"Tianwei Zhao, Peng Zeng, Jinxia Li, Hui Sun, Pavel Neuzil, Yuanting Zhang, Honglong Chang, Jianguo Feng, Xichen Yuan, Imrich Gablech","doi":"10.1039/d4lc00479e","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Heterogeneous particles co-focusing to a single stream is a vital prerequisite for cell counting and enumeration, playing an important role in flow cytometry and single cell analysis. Microfluidics-based inertial focusing holds great research prospects due to its simplicity of devices, ease of operation, high throughput, and freedom from external fields. Combining microfluidic channels with two or more different geometries has emerged as a powerful tool for high-efficiency particle focusing. Here, we explored hybrid microfluidic channels for heterogeneous particles co-focusing. Four different channel structures consisting of annular channels with obstacles distributed on the inner wall were constructed and simulated, obtaining constantly variable secondary flows. Then we used four different fluorescent particles with the size of 10 μm, 12 μm 15 μm, and 20 μm as well as their mixture to perform the inertial focusing experiments of multi-size particles. Theoretical simulation and experimental results demonstrated a focusing efficiency of > 99%. Finally, we utilized human white blood cells to further estimate the co-focusing performance of our hybrid microfluidic channel, resulting in a high focusing efficiency of >92% and a high throughput of ≈ 8,000 cell·s−1. The hybrid microfluidic channels, capable of high-precision heterogeneous particles co-focusing, could pave a broad avenue for microfluidic flow cytometry and single-cell analysis.","PeriodicalId":85,"journal":{"name":"Lab on a Chip","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":6.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Lab on a Chip","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1039/d4lc00479e","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"BIOCHEMICAL RESEARCH METHODS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Heterogeneous particles co-focusing to a single stream is a vital prerequisite for cell counting and enumeration, playing an important role in flow cytometry and single cell analysis. Microfluidics-based inertial focusing holds great research prospects due to its simplicity of devices, ease of operation, high throughput, and freedom from external fields. Combining microfluidic channels with two or more different geometries has emerged as a powerful tool for high-efficiency particle focusing. Here, we explored hybrid microfluidic channels for heterogeneous particles co-focusing. Four different channel structures consisting of annular channels with obstacles distributed on the inner wall were constructed and simulated, obtaining constantly variable secondary flows. Then we used four different fluorescent particles with the size of 10 μm, 12 μm 15 μm, and 20 μm as well as their mixture to perform the inertial focusing experiments of multi-size particles. Theoretical simulation and experimental results demonstrated a focusing efficiency of > 99%. Finally, we utilized human white blood cells to further estimate the co-focusing performance of our hybrid microfluidic channel, resulting in a high focusing efficiency of >92% and a high throughput of ≈ 8,000 cell·s−1. The hybrid microfluidic channels, capable of high-precision heterogeneous particles co-focusing, could pave a broad avenue for microfluidic flow cytometry and single-cell analysis.
期刊介绍:
Lab on a Chip is the premiere journal that publishes cutting-edge research in the field of miniaturization. By their very nature, microfluidic/nanofluidic/miniaturized systems are at the intersection of disciplines, spanning fundamental research to high-end application, which is reflected by the broad readership of the journal. Lab on a Chip publishes two types of papers on original research: full-length research papers and communications. Papers should demonstrate innovations, which can come from technical advancements or applications addressing pressing needs in globally important areas. The journal also publishes Comments, Reviews, and Perspectives.