Zhong R, Hou L, Zhao Y, Wang T, Wang S, Wang M, Xu D, Sun Y. A 3D mixing-based portable magnetic device for fully automatic immunofluorescence staining of γ-H2AX in UVC-irradiated CD4
+ cells.
RSC Adv 2020;
10:29311-29319. [PMID:
35521108 PMCID:
PMC9055984 DOI:
10.1039/d0ra03925j]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2020] [Accepted: 08/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Immunofluorescence (IF) is a common method used in cell biology. The conventional protocol for IF staining is time and labor-intensive, operator dependent and reagent-consuming. Magnetic Bead (MB)-based microdevices are frequently utilized in cellular assays, but integration of simple and efficient mixing with downstream multi-step manipulation of MBs for automatic IF staining is still challenging. We herein present a portable, inexpensive and integratable device for MB-based automatic IF staining. First, a front-end cell capture step is performed using a 3D-mixing module, which is built upon a novel mechanism named ec-2MagRotors and generates periodically changing 3D magnetic fields. A 5-fold enhancement of cell capture efficiency was attained even with a low bead-to-cell concentration ratio (5 : 1), when conducting magnetic 3D mixing. Second, a 1D-moving module is employed downstream to automatically manipulate MB–cell complexes for IF staining. Further, a simplified protocol for staining of γ-H2AX, a biomarker widely used in evaluation of cell radiation damage, is presented for proof-of-principle study of the magnetic device. Using UVC-irradiated CD4+ cells as samples, our device achieved fully automatic γ-H2AX staining within 40 minutes at room temperature and showed a linear dose–response relationship. The developed portable magnetic device is automatic, efficient, cost-effective and simple-to-use, holding great potential for applications in different IF assays.
A 3D mixing-based portable magnetic device to perform on-chip efficient cell capture and automatic intracellular immunofluorescence (IF) staining is presented.![]()
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