Monitoring of benzene-induced hematotoxicity in mice by serial leukocyte counting using a microcavity array

Simple and rapid CD4 testing based on large-field imaging system composed of microcavity array and two-dimensional photosensor

This study presents a novel method for CD4 testing based on one-shot large-field imaging. The large-field imaging system was fabricated by a microcavity array and a two-dimensional (2D) photosensor within the desk-top-sized instrument. The microcavity array was employed to separate leukocytes from whole blood based on differences in the size of leukocytes and other blood cells. The large-field imaging system with lower side irradiation enabled acquisition of cell signatures with high signal-to-noise ratio, because the metallic substrate of the microcavity array obstructed excessive excitation light. In this setting, dual-color imaging of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells was achieved within the entire image area (64 mm(2)) in 2s. The practical performance of the large-field imaging system was demonstrated by determining the CD4/CD8 ratio in a few microliter of control whole blood as small as those obtained by a finger prick. The CD4/CD8 ratios measured using the large-field imaging system correlated well with those measured by microscopic analysis. These results indicate that our proposed system provides a simple and rapid CD4 testing for the application of HIV/AIDS treatment.

Digital cell counting device integrated with a single-cell array

In this paper, we present a novel cell counting method accomplished using a single-cell array fabricated on an image sensor, complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensor. The single-cell array was constructed using a microcavity array, which can trap up to 7,500 single cells on microcavities periodically arranged on a plane metallic substrate via the application of a negative pressure. The proposed method for cell counting is based on shadow imaging, which uses a light diffraction pattern generated by the microcavity array and trapped cells. Under illumination, the cell-occupied microcavities are visualized as shadow patterns in an image recorded by the complementary metal oxide semiconductor sensor due to light attenuation. The cell count is determined by enumerating the uniform shadow patterns created from one-on-one relationships with single cells trapped on the microcavities in digital format. In the experiment, all cell counting processes including entrapment of non-labeled HeLa cells from suspensions on the array and image acquisition of a wide-field-of-view of 30 mm(2) in 1/60 seconds were implemented in a single integrated device. As a result, the results from the digital cell counting had a linear relationship with those obtained from microscopic observation (r(2)  = 0.99). This platform could be used at extremely low cell concentrations, i.e., 25-15,000 cells/mL. Our proposed system provides a simple and rapid miniaturized cell counting device for routine laboratory use.

Assessment of benzene-induced hematotoxicity using a human-like hematopoietic lineage in NOD/Shi-scid/IL-2Rγnull mice

Despite recent advancements, it is still difficult to evaluate in vivo responses to toxicants in humans. Development of a system that can mimic the in vivo responses of human cells will enable more accurate health risk assessments. A surrogate human hematopoietic lineage can be established in NOD/Shi-scid/IL-2Rγ^null (NOG) mice by transplanting human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (Hu-NOG mice). Here, we first evaluated the toxic response of human-like hematopoietic lineage in NOG mice to a representative toxic agent, benzene. Flow cytometric analysis showed that benzene caused a significant decrease in the number of human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells in the bone marrow and the number of human leukocytes in the peripheral blood and hematopoietic organs. Next, we established chimeric mice by transplanting C57BL/6 mouse-derived bone marrow cells into NOG mice (Mo-NOG mice). A comparison of the degree of benzene-induced hematotoxicity in donor-derived hematopoietic lineage cells within Mo-NOG mice indicated that the toxic response of Hu-NOG mice reflected interspecies differences in susceptibilities to benzene. Responses to the toxic effects of benzene were greater in lymphoid cells than in myeloid cells in Mo-NOG and Hu-NOG mice. These findings suggested that Hu-NOG mice may be a powerful in vivo tool for assessing hematotoxicity in humans, while accounting for interspecies differences.