A Centrifugal Microfluidic Platform That Separates Whole Blood Samples into Multiple Removable Fractions Due to Several Discrete but Continuous Density Gradient Sections

PLoS One. 2016 Apr 7;11(4):e0153137. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153137. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

We present a miniaturized centrifugal platform that uses density centrifugation for separation and analysis of biological components in small volume samples (~5 μL). We demonstrate the ability to enrich leukocytes for on-disk visualization via microscopy, as well as recovery of viable cells from each of the gradient partitions. In addition, we simplified the traditional Modified Wright-Giemsa staining by decreasing the time, volume, and expertise involved in the procedure. From a whole blood sample, we were able to extract 95.15% of leukocytes while excluding 99.8% of red blood cells. This platform has great potential in both medical diagnostics and research applications as it offers a simpler, automated, and inexpensive method for biological sample separation, analysis, and downstream culturing.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Blood Cells / cytology*
  • Cell Separation / instrumentation
  • Cell Separation / methods
  • Centrifugation, Density Gradient / instrumentation*
  • Centrifugation, Density Gradient / methods
  • Humans
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / instrumentation*
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods