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Akbari Z, Raoufi MA, Mirjalali S, Aghajanloo B. A review on inertial microfluidic fabrication methods. BIOMICROFLUIDICS 2023; 17:051504. [PMID: 37869745 PMCID: PMC10589053 DOI: 10.1063/5.0163970] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/02/2023] [Indexed: 10/24/2023]
Abstract
In recent decades, there has been significant interest in inertial microfluidics due to its high throughput, ease of fabrication, and no need for external forces. The focusing efficiency of inertial microfluidic systems relies entirely on the geometrical features of microchannels because hydrodynamic forces (inertial lift forces and Dean drag forces) are the main driving forces in inertial microfluidic devices. In the past few years, novel microchannel structures have been propounded to improve particle manipulation efficiency. However, the fabrication of these unconventional structures has remained a serious challenge. Although researchers have pushed forward the frontiers of microfabrication technologies, the fabrication techniques employed for inertial microfluidics have not been discussed comprehensively. This review introduces the microfabrication approaches used for creating inertial microchannels, including photolithography, xurography, laser cutting, micromachining, microwire technique, etching, hot embossing, 3D printing, and injection molding. The advantages and disadvantages of these methods have also been discussed. Then, the techniques are reviewed regarding resolution, structures, cost, and materials. This review provides a thorough insight into the manufacturing methods of inertial microchannels, which could be helpful for future studies to improve the harvesting yield and resolution by choosing a proper fabrication technique.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zohreh Akbari
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
| | | | - Sheyda Mirjalali
- School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Behrouz Aghajanloo
- School of Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Farahinia A, Zhang W, Badea I. Recent Developments in Inertial and Centrifugal Microfluidic Systems along with the Involved Forces for Cancer Cell Separation: A Review. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 23:s23115300. [PMID: 37300027 DOI: 10.3390/s23115300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2023] [Revised: 04/23/2023] [Accepted: 05/17/2023] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The treatment of cancers is a significant challenge in the healthcare context today. Spreading circulating tumor cells (CTCs) throughout the body will eventually lead to cancer metastasis and produce new tumors near the healthy tissues. Therefore, separating these invading cells and extracting cues from them is extremely important for determining the rate of cancer progression inside the body and for the development of individualized treatments, especially at the beginning of the metastasis process. The continuous and fast separation of CTCs has recently been achieved using numerous separation techniques, some of which involve multiple high-level operational protocols. Although a simple blood test can detect the presence of CTCs in the blood circulation system, the detection is still restricted due to the scarcity and heterogeneity of CTCs. The development of more reliable and effective techniques is thus highly desired. The technology of microfluidic devices is promising among many other bio-chemical and bio-physical technologies. This paper reviews recent developments in the two types of microfluidic devices, which are based on the size and/or density of cells, for separating cancer cells. The goal of this review is to identify knowledge or technology gaps and to suggest future works.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alireza Farahinia
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
| | - Wenjun Zhang
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A9, Canada
| | - Ildiko Badea
- College of Pharmacy and Nutrition, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK S7N 5E5, Canada
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Mehran A, Rostami P, Saidi MS, Firoozabadi B, Kashaninejad N. High-Throughput, Label-Free Isolation of White Blood Cells from Whole Blood Using Parallel Spiral Microchannels with U-Shaped Cross-Section. BIOSENSORS 2021; 11:bios11110406. [PMID: 34821622 PMCID: PMC8615462 DOI: 10.3390/bios11110406] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2021] [Revised: 10/17/2021] [Accepted: 10/17/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Rapid isolation of white blood cells (WBCs) from whole blood is an essential part of any WBC examination platform. However, most conventional cell separation techniques are labor-intensive and low throughput, require large volumes of samples, need extensive cell manipulation, and have low purity. To address these challenges, we report the design and fabrication of a passive, label-free microfluidic device with a unique U-shaped cross-section to separate WBCs from whole blood using hydrodynamic forces that exist in a microchannel with curvilinear geometry. It is shown that the spiral microchannel with a U-shaped cross-section concentrates larger blood cells (e.g., WBCs) in the inner cross-section of the microchannel by moving smaller blood cells (e.g., RBCs and platelets) to the outer microchannel section and preventing them from returning to the inner microchannel section. Therefore, it overcomes the major limitation of a rectangular cross-section where secondary Dean vortices constantly enforce particles throughout the entire cross-section and decrease its isolation efficiency. Under optimal settings, we managed to isolate more than 95% of WBCs from whole blood under high-throughput (6 mL/min), high-purity (88%), and high-capacity (360 mL of sample in 1 h) conditions. High efficiency, fast processing time, and non-invasive WBC isolation from large blood samples without centrifugation, RBC lysis, cell biomarkers, and chemical pre-treatments make this method an ideal choice for downstream cell study platforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amirhossein Mehran
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 11155, Iran; (A.M.); (P.R.); (M.S.S.)
| | - Peyman Rostami
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 11155, Iran; (A.M.); (P.R.); (M.S.S.)
| | - Mohammad Said Saidi
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 11155, Iran; (A.M.); (P.R.); (M.S.S.)
| | - Bahar Firoozabadi
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran 11155, Iran; (A.M.); (P.R.); (M.S.S.)
| | - Navid Kashaninejad
- Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Nathan Campus, Griffith University, 170 Kessels Road, Brisbane, QLD 4111, Australia
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Cell specific variation in viability in suspension in in vitro Poiseuille flow conditions. Sci Rep 2021; 11:13997. [PMID: 34234155 PMCID: PMC8263586 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91865-1] [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: 02/19/2021] [Accepted: 05/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The influence of Poiseuille flow on cell viability has applications in the areas of cancer metastasis, lab-on-a-chip devices and flow cytometry. Indeed, retaining cell viability is important in the emerging field of adoptive cell therapy, as cells need to be returned to patients’ bodies, while the viability of other cells, which are perhaps less accustomed to suspension in a fluidic environment, is important to retain in flow cytometers and other such devices. Despite this, it is unclear how Poiseuille flow affects cell viability. Following on from previous studies which investigated the viability and inertial positions of circulating breast cancer cells in identical flow conditions, this study investigated the influence that varying flow rate, and the corresponding Reynolds number has on the viability of a range of different circulating cells in laminar pipe flow including primary T-cells, primary fibroblasts and neuroblastoma cells. It was found that Reynolds numbers as high as 9.13 had no effect on T-cells while the viabilities of neuroblastoma cells and intestinal fibroblasts were significantly reduced in comparison. This indicates that in vitro flow devices need to be tailored to cell-specific flow regimes.
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Jiang D, Ni C, Tang W, Huang D, Xiang N. Inertial microfluidics in contraction-expansion microchannels: A review. BIOMICROFLUIDICS 2021; 15:041501. [PMID: 34262632 PMCID: PMC8254650 DOI: 10.1063/5.0058732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2021] [Accepted: 06/19/2021] [Indexed: 05/02/2023]
Abstract
Inertial microfluidics has brought enormous changes in the conventional cell/particle detection process and now become the main trend of sample pretreatment with outstanding throughput, low cost, and simple control method. However, inertial microfluidics in a straight microchannel is not enough to provide high efficiency and satisfying performance for cell/particle separation. A contraction-expansion microchannel is a widely used and multifunctional channel pattern involving inertial microfluidics, secondary flow, and the vortex in the chamber. The strengthened inertial microfluidics can help us to focus particles with a shorter channel length and less processing time. Both the vortex in the chamber and the secondary flow in the main channel can trap the target particles or separate particles based on their sizes more precisely. The contraction-expansion microchannels are also capable of combining with a curved, spiral, or serpentine channel to further improve the separation performance. Some recent studies have focused on the viscoelastic fluid that utilizes both elastic forces and inertial forces to separate different size particles precisely with a relatively low flow rate for the vulnerable cells. This article comprehensively reviews various contraction-expansion microchannels with Newtonian and viscoelastic fluids for particle focusing, separation, and microfluid mixing and provides particle manipulation performance data analysis for the contraction-expansion microchannel design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Di Jiang
- Author to whom correspondence should be addressed:
| | - Chen Ni
- College of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
| | | | - Di Huang
- School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
| | - Nan Xiang
- School of Mechanical Engineering, and Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Design and Manufacture of Micro-Nano Biomedical Instruments, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
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Özkayar G, Mutlu E, Şahin Ş, Demircan Yalçın Y, Töral T, Külah H, Yildirim E, Zorlu Ö, Özgür E. A Novel Microfluidic Method Utilizing a Hydrofoil Structure to Improve Circulating Tumor Cell Enrichment: Design and Analytical Validation. MICROMACHINES 2020; 11:mi11110981. [PMID: 33143378 PMCID: PMC7693848 DOI: 10.3390/mi11110981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2020] [Revised: 10/14/2020] [Accepted: 10/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Being one of the major pillars of liquid biopsy, isolation and characterization of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) during cancer management provides critical information on the evolution of cancer and has great potential to increase the success of therapies. In this article, we define a novel strategy to effectively enrich CTCs from whole blood based on size, utilizing a spiral microfluidic channel embedded with a hydrofoil structure at the downstream of the spiral channel. The hydrofoil increases the distance between the streams of CTCs and peripheral blood cells, which are already distributed about two focal axes by the spiral channel, thereby improving the resolution of the separation. Analytical validation of the system has been carried out using Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF7) breast cancer cell lines spiked into blood samples from healthy donors, and the performance of the system in terms of white blood cell (WBC) depletion, CTC recovery rate and cell viability has been shown in single or two-step process: by passing the sample once or twice through the microfluidic chip. Single step process yielded high recovery (77.1%), viable (84.7%) CTCs. When the collected cell suspension is re-processed by the same chip, recovery decreases to 65.5%, while the WBC depletion increases to 88.3%, improving the purity. Cell viability of >80% was preserved after two-step process. The novel microfluidic chip is a good candidate for CTC isolation applications requiring high recovery rate and viability, including functional downstream analyses for variety of cancer types.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gürhan Özkayar
- Mikro Biyosistemler A.Ş., ODTÜ Teknokent MET Yerleskesi, No:280/B/10, Ankara 06530, Turkey; (G.Ö.); (E.M.); (Ş.Ş.); (Y.D.Y.); (T.T.); (H.K.); (E.Y.); (Ö.Z.)
| | - Ege Mutlu
- Mikro Biyosistemler A.Ş., ODTÜ Teknokent MET Yerleskesi, No:280/B/10, Ankara 06530, Turkey; (G.Ö.); (E.M.); (Ş.Ş.); (Y.D.Y.); (T.T.); (H.K.); (E.Y.); (Ö.Z.)
| | - Şebnem Şahin
- Mikro Biyosistemler A.Ş., ODTÜ Teknokent MET Yerleskesi, No:280/B/10, Ankara 06530, Turkey; (G.Ö.); (E.M.); (Ş.Ş.); (Y.D.Y.); (T.T.); (H.K.); (E.Y.); (Ö.Z.)
| | - Yağmur Demircan Yalçın
- Mikro Biyosistemler A.Ş., ODTÜ Teknokent MET Yerleskesi, No:280/B/10, Ankara 06530, Turkey; (G.Ö.); (E.M.); (Ş.Ş.); (Y.D.Y.); (T.T.); (H.K.); (E.Y.); (Ö.Z.)
| | - Taylan Töral
- Mikro Biyosistemler A.Ş., ODTÜ Teknokent MET Yerleskesi, No:280/B/10, Ankara 06530, Turkey; (G.Ö.); (E.M.); (Ş.Ş.); (Y.D.Y.); (T.T.); (H.K.); (E.Y.); (Ö.Z.)
| | - Haluk Külah
- Mikro Biyosistemler A.Ş., ODTÜ Teknokent MET Yerleskesi, No:280/B/10, Ankara 06530, Turkey; (G.Ö.); (E.M.); (Ş.Ş.); (Y.D.Y.); (T.T.); (H.K.); (E.Y.); (Ö.Z.)
- Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara 06530, Turkey
| | - Ender Yildirim
- Mikro Biyosistemler A.Ş., ODTÜ Teknokent MET Yerleskesi, No:280/B/10, Ankara 06530, Turkey; (G.Ö.); (E.M.); (Ş.Ş.); (Y.D.Y.); (T.T.); (H.K.); (E.Y.); (Ö.Z.)
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara 06530, Turkey
| | - Özge Zorlu
- Mikro Biyosistemler A.Ş., ODTÜ Teknokent MET Yerleskesi, No:280/B/10, Ankara 06530, Turkey; (G.Ö.); (E.M.); (Ş.Ş.); (Y.D.Y.); (T.T.); (H.K.); (E.Y.); (Ö.Z.)
| | - Ebru Özgür
- Mikro Biyosistemler A.Ş., ODTÜ Teknokent MET Yerleskesi, No:280/B/10, Ankara 06530, Turkey; (G.Ö.); (E.M.); (Ş.Ş.); (Y.D.Y.); (T.T.); (H.K.); (E.Y.); (Ö.Z.)
- Correspondence:
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Connolly S, Newport D, McGourty K. The mechanical responses of advecting cells in confined flow. BIOMICROFLUIDICS 2020; 14:031501. [PMID: 32454924 PMCID: PMC7200165 DOI: 10.1063/5.0005154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2020] [Accepted: 04/21/2020] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
Fluid dynamics have long influenced cells in suspension. Red blood cells and white blood cells are advected through biological microchannels in both the cardiovascular and lymphatic systems and, as a result, are subject to a wide variety of complex fluidic forces as they pass through. In vivo, microfluidic forces influence different biological processes such as the spreading of infection, cancer metastasis, and cell viability, highlighting the importance of fluid dynamics in the blood and lymphatic vessels. This suggests that in vitro devices carrying cell suspensions may influence the viability and functionality of cells. Lab-on-a-chip, flow cytometry, and cell therapies involve cell suspensions flowing through microchannels of approximately 100-800 μ m. This review begins by examining the current fundamental theories and techniques behind the fluidic forces and inertial focusing acting on cells in suspension, before exploring studies that have investigated how these fluidic forces affect the reactions of suspended cells. In light of these studies' findings, both in vivo and in vitro fluidic cell microenvironments shall also be discussed before concluding with recommendations for the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- S Connolly
- School of Engineering, Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland
| | - D Newport
- School of Engineering, Bernal Institute, University of Limerick, Limerick V94 T9PX, Ireland
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Oh KW. Microfluidic Devices for Biomedical Applications: Biomedical Microfluidic Devices 2019. MICROMACHINES 2020; 11:mi11040370. [PMID: 32244684 PMCID: PMC7230227 DOI: 10.3390/mi11040370] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/30/2020] [Accepted: 03/30/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Kwang W Oh
- SMALL (Sensors and MicroActuators Learning Lab), Department of Electrical Engineering & Department of Biomedical Engineering, University at Buffalo, State University of New York (SUNY-Buffalo), Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
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