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Red blood cell transport mechanisms in polyester thread-based blood typing devices

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Abstract

A recently developed blood typing diagnostic based on a polyester thread substrate has shown great promise for use in medical emergencies and in impoverished regions. The device is easy to use and transport, while also being inexpensive, accurate, and rapid. This study used a fluorescent confocal microscope to delve deeper into how red blood cells were behaving within the polyester thread-based diagnostic at the cellular level, and how plasma separation could be made to visibly occur on the thread, making it possible to identify blood type in a single step. Red blood cells were stained and the plasma phase dyed with fluorescent compounds to enable them to be visualised under the confocal microscope at high magnification. The mechanisms uncovered were in surprising contrast with those found for a similar, paper-based method. Red blood cell aggregates did not flow over each other within the thread substrate as expected, but suffered from a restriction to their flow which resulted in the chromatographic separation of the RBCs from the liquid phase of the blood. It is hoped that these results will lead to the optimisation of the method to enable more accurate and sensitive detection, increasing the range of blood systems that can be detected.

Agglutinated FITC stained A+ blood on anti-A antibody treated thread. Sheet like structures composed of agglutinated RBCs can be seen, wrapped around fibres and occupying the spaces between them

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank The Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN) for providing world-class facilities, including the confocal microscope used in the study. We also thank Dr John Zhu of the MCN for his guidance and instruction in the use of the confocal microscope. The authors also thank Dr Lijing Wang of the School of Fashion and Textiles, RMIT University, for kindly providing the thread samples and Dr Ying Hui Ngo for her assistance in capturing SEM images of the thread used, and the Monash Centre for Electron Microscopy for providing SEM facilities. The research scholarships of Monash University and the Department of Chemical Engineering are gratefully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian Pulp and Paper Institute, Department of Chemical Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Melbourne, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    Azadeh Nilghaz, David R. Ballerini, Liyun Guan, Lizi Li & Wei Shen

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  1. Azadeh Nilghaz
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  2. David R. Ballerini
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  3. Liyun Guan
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  4. Lizi Li
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  5. Wei Shen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wei Shen.

Additional information

Published in the topical collection Fiber-based Platforms for Bioanalytics with guest editors Antje J. Baeumner and R. Kenneth Marcus.

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Nilghaz, A., Ballerini, D.R., Guan, L. et al. Red blood cell transport mechanisms in polyester thread-based blood typing devices. Anal Bioanal Chem 408, 1365–1371 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-015-8845-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-015-8845-5

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