The up-to-date strategies for the isolation and manipulation of single cells

Abstract

Due to the large cellular heterogeneity, the strategies for the isolation and manipulation of single cells have been pronounced indispensable in the fields of disease diagnostics, drug delivery, and cancer biology at the single-cell resolution. Herein, an overview of the up-to-date techniques for precise manipulation/separation and analysis of single-cell is accomplished, these include the various approaches for the isolation and detection of individual cells in flow cytometry, microfluidic systems, micromodule systems, and others. In addition, the advanced application of these protocols is discussed. In particular, a few designs are highlighted for visualization, non-invasion, and intelligentization in single cell analysis, i.e., imaging flow cytometry, label-free microfluidic platform, single-cell capillary probe, and other related techniques. At the present, the main barriers in the various schemes for single cell manipulation which limited their practical applications are their cumbersome construction and single-functionality. The future opportunities and outstanding challenges in the isolation/manipulation of single cells are depicted.

Keywords: Flow cytometry; Isolation; Manipulation; Microfluidic chip; Single cell; Single-cell probe.