In this study, we developed the prototype of an optical imaging-based point-of-care (POC) device for monitoring human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) progression that can detect CD4+ T-lymphocytes in human blood. The proposed portable cell-counting system, Helios CD4 Analyzer (Helios), can acquire sample images and analyze the cells automatically using a simple fluorescence imaging module and sample cartridge with a three-dimensional (3D) helical minichannel. The helical minichannel formed on the cylindrical surface enables the sample cartridge to hold a cell suspension present in a fixed sample volume for absolute counting of the cells. With a given total channel length, the helical minichannel-based sample cartridge is smaller than the conventional sample cartridge with a planar microchannel. The implemented nut and bolt mechanism allows the scanning of a relatively large volume of the sample along the helical minichannel by just rotating the cylindrical chamber coupled with a single DC motor rather than using a two-axis motorized translation stage, which considerably simplifies the associated electromechanical parts. It has distinct advantages over the existing devices because of its small size and simple scanning mechanism. We optimized various imaging parameters to enhance the fluorescence detection efficiency of the prototype. Performance evaluations using human blood samples demonstrated good agreement for low CD4 count between the Helios and the PIMATM, one of the most widely used POC CD4+ analyzers.
Keywords: CD4+ T-cells; HIV/AIDS; cell counter; fluorescence imaging; helical minichannel; nut and bolt microfluidics; sample cartridge.