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Heng Y, Zheng X, Xu Y, Yan J, Li Y, Sun L, Yang H. Microfluidic device featuring micro-constrained channels for multi-parametric assessment of cellular biomechanics and high-precision mechanical phenotyping of gastric cells. Anal Chim Acta 2024; 1301:342472. [PMID: 38553127 DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2024.342472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2023] [Revised: 03/12/2024] [Accepted: 03/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/02/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cellular biomechanics plays a significant role in the regulation of cellular physiological and pathological processes. In recent years, multiple methods have been developed to evaluate cellular biomechanics, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), micropipette aspiration, and magnetic tweezers. However, most of these methods only focus on a single parameter and cannot automate the process at a high-efficiency level. A novel microfluidic method is necessary to achieve the simultaneous multi-parametric measurement of cellular biomechanics and high-precision cellular mechanical phenotyping at high throughput. RESULTS To tackle the issue concerning the low-throughput and cellular single-parameter evaluation, we designed and fabricated a microfluidic chip featuring multiple micro-constrained channels structure, providing a simultaneous multi-parametric assessment of cellular biomechanics, including elastic modulus, recovery capability, and deformability. We compared the biomechanical properties of normal human gastric mucosal epithelial cells (GES-1) and human gastric cancer cells (AGS and MKN-45) by the chip. Results demonstrated that the elastic modulus of GES-1, AGS, and MKN-45 cells decreased sequentially, which was the opposite of their invasiveness and metastasis potential, suggesting the inverse correlation between cellular elastic modulus and malignancy. Meanwhile, the recovery capability and deformability of GES-1, AGS, and MKN-45 cells increased sequentially, demonstrating the positive correlation between cellular deformability and malignancy. Furthermore, multiple parameters were used to distinguish gastric cancer cells from normal gastric cells via machine learning. An accuracy of over 94.8% for identifying gastric cancer cells was achieved. SIGNIFICANCE This study provides a deep insight into the biophysical mechanism of gastric cancer metastasis at the single-cell level and possesses great potential to function as a valuable tool for single-cell analysis, thereby facilitating high-precision and high-throughput discrimination of cellular phenotypes that are not easily discernible through single-marker analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Heng
- Robotics and Microsystems Center, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215000, China
| | - Xinyu Zheng
- Suzhou Medical College of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215000, China; Department of Hematology and Oncology, Children's Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215025, China
| | - Youyuan Xu
- Robotics and Microsystems Center, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215000, China
| | - Jiaqi Yan
- Robotics and Microsystems Center, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215000, China
| | - Ying Li
- Department of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shenzhen Polytechnic University, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
| | - Lining Sun
- Robotics and Microsystems Center, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215000, China
| | - Hao Yang
- Robotics and Microsystems Center, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215000, China.
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Zhu J, Feng Y, Chai H, Liang F, Cheng Z, Wang W. Performance-enhanced clogging-free viscous sheath constriction impedance flow cytometry. LAB ON A CHIP 2023; 23:2531-2539. [PMID: 37082895 DOI: 10.1039/d3lc00178d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
As a label-free and high-throughput single cell analysis platform, impedance flow cytometry (IFC) suffers from clogging caused by a narrow microchannel as mechanical constriction (MC). Current sheath constriction (SC) solutions lack systematic evaluation of the performance and proper guidelines for the sheath fluid. Herein, we hypothesize that the viscosity of the non-conductive liquid is the key to the performance of SC, and propose to employ non-conductive viscous sheath flow in SC to unlock the tradeoff between sensitivity and throughput, while ensuring measurement accuracy. By placing MC and SC in series in the same microfluidic chip, we established an evaluation platform to prove the hypothesis. Through modeling analysis and experiments, we confirmed the accuracy (error < 1.60% ± 4.71%) of SC w.r.t. MC, and demonstrated that viscous non-conductive PEG solution achieved an improved sensitivity (7.92×) and signal-to-noise ratio (1.42×) in impedance measurement, with the accuracy maintained and free of clogging. Viscous SC IFC also shows satisfactory ability to distinguish different types of cancer cells and different subtypes of human breast cancer cells. It is envisioned that viscous SC IFC paves the way for IFC to be really usable in practice with clogging-free, accurate, and sensitive performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junwen Zhu
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instrument, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China.
| | - Yongxiang Feng
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instrument, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China.
| | - Huichao Chai
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instrument, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China.
| | - Fei Liang
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instrument, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China.
| | - Zhen Cheng
- Department of Automation, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Wenhui Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instrument, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P. R. China.
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Kim H, Zhbanov A, Yang S. Microfluidic Systems for Blood and Blood Cell Characterization. BIOSENSORS 2022; 13:13. [PMID: 36671848 PMCID: PMC9856090 DOI: 10.3390/bios13010013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Revised: 12/16/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
A laboratory blood test is vital for assessing a patient's health and disease status. Advances in microfluidic technology have opened the door for on-chip blood analysis. Currently, microfluidic devices can reproduce myriad routine laboratory blood tests. Considerable progress has been made in microfluidic cytometry, blood cell separation, and characterization. Along with the usual clinical parameters, microfluidics makes it possible to determine the physical properties of blood and blood cells. We review recent advances in microfluidic systems for measuring the physical properties and biophysical characteristics of blood and blood cells. Added emphasis is placed on multifunctional platforms that combine several microfluidic technologies for effective cell characterization. The combination of hydrodynamic, optical, electromagnetic, and/or acoustic methods in a microfluidic device facilitates the precise determination of various physical properties of blood and blood cells. We analyzed the physical quantities that are measured by microfluidic devices and the parameters that are determined through these measurements. We discuss unexplored problems and present our perspectives on the long-term challenges and trends associated with the application of microfluidics in clinical laboratories. We expect the characterization of the physical properties of blood and blood cells in a microfluidic environment to be considered a standard blood test in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hojin Kim
- Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Dongseo University, Busan 47011, Republic of Korea
| | - Alexander Zhbanov
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
| | - Sung Yang
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
- Department of Biomedical Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005, Republic of Korea
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Liu Y, Wang K, Sun X, Chen D, Wang J, Chen J. Advance of microfluidic constriction channel system of measuring single-cell cortical tension/specific capacitance of membrane and conductivity of cytoplasm. Cytometry A 2021; 101:434-447. [PMID: 34821462 DOI: 10.1002/cyto.a.24517] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/01/2021] [Revised: 10/14/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
This paper reported a microfluidic platform which realized the characterization of inherent single-cell biomechanical and bioelectrical parameters simultaneously. Individual cells traveled through a constriction channel with deformation images and impedance variations captured and processed into cortical tension Tc , specific membrane capacitance Csm , and cytoplasmic conductivity σcy based on an equivalent biophysical model. These properties of thousands of individual cells of K562, Jurkat, HL-60, HL-60 treated with paraformaldehyde (PA)/cytochalasin D (CD)/concanavalin A (ConA), granulocytes of Donor 1, Donor 2, and Donor 3 were quantified for the first time. Leveraging Tc , Csm , and σcy , (1) high accuracies of classifying wild-type and processed HL-60 cells (e.g., 93.5% of PA treated vs. CD treated HL-60 cells) were realized, revealing the effectiveness of using these three biophysical parameters in cell-type classification; (2) low accuracies of classifying normal granulocytes from three donors (e.g., 56.4% of Donor 1 vs. 2), indicating comparable parameters for normal granulocytes. In conclusion, this platform can characterize single-cell Tc , Csm , and σcy concurrently and quantify multiple parameters in single-cell analysis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology (SKLTT), Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.,School of Electronic, Electrical and Communication Engineering (EECE), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China
| | - Ke Wang
- School of Electronic Engineering, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaohao Sun
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA
| | - Deyong Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology (SKLTT), Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.,School of Electronic, Electrical and Communication Engineering (EECE), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China.,School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China
| | - Junbo Wang
- State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology (SKLTT), Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.,School of Electronic, Electrical and Communication Engineering (EECE), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China.,School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China
| | - Jian Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology (SKLTT), Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China.,School of Electronic, Electrical and Communication Engineering (EECE), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China.,School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), Beijing, China
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Wei Q, Yao W, Gu L, Fan B, Gao Y, Yang L, Zhao Y, Che C. Modeling, simulation, and optimization of electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) devices. BIOMICROFLUIDICS 2021; 15:014107. [PMID: 33569090 PMCID: PMC7853767 DOI: 10.1063/5.0029790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2020] [Accepted: 01/12/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
With widespread research studies on electrowetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) for droplet manipulation in the field of lab-on-a-chip, how to improve the driving capability of droplets has increasingly attracted enormous interest. Aiming to decrease driving voltages and improve driving effectiveness, this paper studies the modeling, simulation, and optimization of EWOD devices. The theoretical model is refined mainly in consideration of the saturation effect of the contact angle and then verified by both simulation and experiments. As a design guide to decrease the driving voltage, a theoretical criterion of droplet splitting, the most difficult one among four basic droplet manipulations, is developed and then verified by experimental results. Moreover, a novel sigmoid electrode shape is found by the optimization method based on finite element analysis and achieves better driving effectiveness and consistent bidirectional driving capability, compared with the existing electrode shapes. Taken together, this paper provides an EWOD analysis and optimization method featuring a lower voltage and a better effectiveness and opens up opportunities for optimization designs in various EWOD-based applications.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Yingying Zhao
- Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: and
| | - Chuncheng Che
- Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed: and
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