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Butement JT, Wang X, Siracusa F, Miller E, Pabortsava K, Mowlem M, Spencer D, Morgan H. Discrimination of Microplastics and Phytoplankton Using Impedance Cytometry. ACS Sens 2024. [PMID: 39140177 DOI: 10.1021/acssensors.4c01353] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/15/2024]
Abstract
Both microplastics and phytoplankton are found together in the ocean as suspended microparticles. There is a need for deployable technologies that can identify, size, and count these particles at high throughput to monitor plankton community structure and microplastic pollution levels. In situ analysis is particularly desirable as it avoids the problems associated with sample storage, processing, and degradation. Current technologies for phytoplankton and microplastic analysis are limited in their capability by specificity, throughput, or lack of deployability. Little attention has been paid to the smallest size fraction of microplastics and phytoplankton below 10 μm in diameter, which are in high abundance. Impedance cytometry is a technique that uses microfluidic chips with integrated microelectrodes to measure the electrical impedance of individual particles. Here, we present an impedance cytometer that can discriminate and count microplastics sampled directly from a mixture of phytoplankton in a seawater-like medium in the 1.5-10 μm size range. A simple machine learning algorithm was used to classify microplastic particles based on dual-frequency impedance measurements of particle size (at 1 MHz) and cell internal electrical composition (at 500 MHz). The technique shows promise for marine deployment, as the chip is sensitive, rugged, and mass producible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan T Butement
- School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
| | - Xiang Wang
- School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
| | | | - Emily Miller
- School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
| | | | - Matthew Mowlem
- National Oceanography Centre, Southampton SO14 3ZH, United Kingdom
| | - Daniel Spencer
- School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
| | - Hywel Morgan
- School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
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Li SS, Xue CD, Li YJ, Chen XM, Zhao Y, Qin KR. Microfluidic characterization of single-cell biophysical properties and the applications in cancer diagnosis. Electrophoresis 2024; 45:1212-1232. [PMID: 37909658 DOI: 10.1002/elps.202300177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2023] [Revised: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
Single-cell biophysical properties play a crucial role in regulating cellular physiological states and functions, demonstrating significant potential in the fields of life sciences and clinical diagnostics. Therefore, over the last few decades, researchers have developed various detection tools to explore the relationship between the biophysical changes of biological cells and human diseases. With the rapid advancement of modern microfabrication technology, microfluidic devices have quickly emerged as a promising platform for single-cell analysis offering advantages including high-throughput, exceptional precision, and ease of manipulation. Consequently, this paper provides an overview of the recent advances in microfluidic analysis and detection systems for single-cell biophysical properties and their applications in the field of cancer. The working principles and latest research progress of single-cell biophysical property detection are first analyzed, highlighting the significance of electrical and mechanical properties. The development of data acquisition and processing methods for real-time, high-throughput, and practical applications are then discussed. Furthermore, the differences in biophysical properties between tumor and normal cells are outlined, illustrating the potential for utilizing single-cell biophysical properties for tumor cell identification, classification, and drug response assessment. Lastly, we summarize the limitations of existing microfluidic analysis and detection systems in single-cell biophysical properties, while also pointing out the prospects and future directions of their applications in cancer diagnosis and treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shan-Shan Li
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, P. R. China
| | - Chun-Dong Xue
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, P. R. China
| | - Yong-Jiang Li
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, P. R. China
| | - Xiao-Ming Chen
- School of Optoelectronic Engineering and Instrumentation Science, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, P. R. China
| | - Yan Zhao
- Department of Stomach Surgery, Cancer Hospital of Dalian University of Technology, Liaoning Cancer Hospital and Institute, Shenyang, Liaoning, P. R. China
| | - Kai-Rong Qin
- School of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning, P. R. China
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Lin YS, Sun CL, Tsang S, Bensalem S, Le Pioufle B, Wang HY. Label-free and noninvasive analysis of microorganism surface epistructures at the single-cell level. Biophys J 2023; 122:1794-1806. [PMID: 37041747 PMCID: PMC10209039 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2023.04.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2022] [Revised: 11/10/2022] [Accepted: 04/07/2023] [Indexed: 04/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Cell surface properties of microorganisms provide abundant information for their physiological status and fate choice. However, current methods for analyzing cell surface properties require labeling or fixation, which can alter the cell activity. This study establishes a label-free, rapid, noninvasive, and quantitative analysis of cell surface properties, including the presence and the dimension of epistructure, down to the single-cell level and at the nanometer scale. Simultaneously, electrorotation provides dielectric properties of intracellular contents. With the combined information, the growth phase of microalgae cells can be identified. The measurement is based on electrorotation of single cells, and an electrorotation model accounting for the surface properties is developed to properly interpret experimental data. The epistructure length measured by electrorotation is validated by scanning electron microscopy. The measurement accuracy is satisfactory in particular in the case of microscale epistructures in the exponential phase and nanoscale epistructures in the stationary phase. However, the measurement accuracy for nanoscale epistructures on cells in the exponential phase is offset by the effect of a thick double layer. Lastly, a diversity in epistructure length distinguishes exponential phase from stationary phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu-Sheng Lin
- Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan; Université Paris Saclay, ENS Paris Saclay, CNRS Institut d'Alembert, SATIE, Gif sur Yvette, France
| | - Chen-Li Sun
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Sung Tsang
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Sakina Bensalem
- Université Paris Saclay, ENS Paris Saclay, CNRS Institut d'Alembert, LUMIN, Gif sur Yvette, France
| | - Bruno Le Pioufle
- Université Paris Saclay, ENS Paris Saclay, CNRS Institut d'Alembert, LUMIN, Gif sur Yvette, France
| | - Hsiang-Yu Wang
- Department of Engineering and System Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
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Li Y, Huang C, Han SI, Han A. Measurement of dielectric properties of cells at single-cell resolution using electrorotation. Biomed Microdevices 2022; 24:23. [PMID: 35771277 DOI: 10.1007/s10544-022-00621-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 06/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/02/2022]
Abstract
Dielectric properties of a cell are biophysical properties of high interest for various applications. However, measuring these properties accurately is not easy, which can be exemplified by the large variations in reported dielectric properties of the same cell types. This paper presents a method for measuring the dielectric properties of cells at high frequency, especially lipid-producing microalgae, at single-cell resolution, by integrating an electrorotation-based dielectric property measurement method with a negative dielectrophoretic (nDEP) force-based single-cell trapping method into a single device. In this method, a four-electrode nDEP structure was used to trap a single cell in an elevated position in the center of another four-electrode structure that can apply electrorotational force. By measuring the speed of cell rotation under different applied electrorotation frequencies and fitting the results into a theoretical core-shell cell model, the dielectric properties of cells, including membrane capacitance and cytoplasm conductivity, could be obtained. This system was applied to measure the dielectric properties of lipid-accumulating microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strain Sta6 by applying an electrorotation signal of up to 100 MHz. By utilizing a broad frequency range and expanding the measurement spectra to a high frequency region, increased accuracy in fitting the dielectric parameters to a theoretical model was possible, especially the cytoplasm conductivity. The developed method can be used in various applications, such as screening microalgae based on their lipid production capabilities, separating cells of different dielectric properties, identifying different cell types, as well as conducting basic biophysical analyses of cellular properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuwen Li
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Can Huang
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Song-I Han
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA
| | - Arum Han
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA. .,Department of Biomedical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA. .,Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843, USA.
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