Abstract
Microfluidic chips were designed and fabricated to capture cells in a relative small volume to generate the desired concentration needed for analysis. The microfluidic chips comprise three-dimensional (3-D) cell capture structures array fabricated in PDMS. The capture structure includes two layers. The first layer consists of spacers to create small gap between the upper layer and glass. The second layer is a sharp corner U-shaped compartment with sharp corners at the fore-end. And another type capture structure with Y-shaped fluidic guide has been designed. It was demonstrated that the structures can capture cells in theory, using Darcy–Weisbach equation and COMSOL Multiphysics. Then yeast cell was chosen to test the performance of the chips. The chip without fluid guides captured ~1.44 × 105 cells and the capture efficiency was up to 71 %. And the chip with fluid guides captured ~5.0 × 104 cells and the capture efficiency was ~25 %. The chip without fluid guides can capture more cells because the yeast cells in the chip without fluid guides are subject to larger hydrodynamic drag force.
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Abbreviations
- f :
-
Darcy friction factor
- l :
-
Length of channel
- v :
-
Fluidic velocity
- d :
-
Hydraulic diameter
- ρ :
-
Fluid density
- S :
-
Cross-sectional area of channel
- Q :
-
Volumetric flow rate
- β :
-
Aspect ratio
- R e :
-
Reynolds number
- η :
-
Fluid viscosity
- w :
-
Width of channel
- h :
-
Height of channel
- r :
-
Radius of cell
- F drag :
-
Hydrodynamic drag force
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Acknowledgments
The authors sincerely thank Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2010CB933901), Deutsche Forschungsgesellschaft (International Research Training Group “Materials and Concepts for Advanced Interconnects and Nanosystems”), and Science and Technology Innovation fund of SJTU-University of Michigan.
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Chen, J., Chen, D., Yuan, T. et al. Microfluidic chips for cells capture using 3-D hydrodynamic structure array. Microsyst Technol 20, 485–491 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-013-1933-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00542-013-1933-6