Microfluidic Blood Separation: Key Technologies and Critical Figures of Merit
Blood is a complex sample comprised mostly of plasma, red blood cells (RBCs), and other cells whose concentrations correlate to physiological or pathological health conditions. There are also many blood-circulating biomarkers, such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and various pathogens, that can be...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-11-01
|
| Series: | Micromachines |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/14/11/2117 |
| _version_ | 1797458356797964288 |
|---|---|
| author | Karina Torres-Castro Katherine Acuña-Umaña Leonardo Lesser-Rojas Darwin R. Reyes |
| author_facet | Karina Torres-Castro Katherine Acuña-Umaña Leonardo Lesser-Rojas Darwin R. Reyes |
| author_sort | Karina Torres-Castro |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Blood is a complex sample comprised mostly of plasma, red blood cells (RBCs), and other cells whose concentrations correlate to physiological or pathological health conditions. There are also many blood-circulating biomarkers, such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and various pathogens, that can be used as measurands to diagnose certain diseases. Microfluidic devices are attractive analytical tools for separating blood components in point-of-care (POC) applications. These platforms have the potential advantage of, among other features, being compact and portable. These features can eventually be exploited in clinics and rapid tests performed in households and low-income scenarios. Microfluidic systems have the added benefit of only needing small volumes of blood drawn from patients (from nanoliters to milliliters) while integrating (within the devices) the steps required before detecting analytes. Hence, these systems will reduce the associated costs of purifying blood components of interest (e.g., specific groups of cells or blood biomarkers) for studying and quantifying collected blood fractions. The microfluidic blood separation field has grown since the 2000s, and important advances have been reported in the last few years. Nonetheless, real POC microfluidic blood separation platforms are still elusive. A widespread consensus on what key figures of merit should be reported to assess the quality and yield of these platforms has not been achieved. Knowing what parameters should be reported for microfluidic blood separations will help achieve that consensus and establish a clear road map to promote further commercialization of these devices and attain real POC applications. This review provides an overview of the separation techniques currently used to separate blood components for higher throughput separations (number of cells or particles per minute). We present a summary of the critical parameters that should be considered when designing such devices and the figures of merit that should be explicitly reported when presenting a device’s separation capabilities. Ultimately, reporting the relevant figures of merit will benefit this growing community and help pave the road toward commercialization of these microfluidic systems. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:35:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-160d4b6eb32d4261811fc8a988f98a2a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-666X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T16:35:57Z |
| publishDate | 2023-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Micromachines |
| spelling | doaj.art-160d4b6eb32d4261811fc8a988f98a2a2023-11-24T14:56:36ZengMDPI AGMicromachines2072-666X2023-11-011411211710.3390/mi14112117Microfluidic Blood Separation: Key Technologies and Critical Figures of MeritKarina Torres-Castro0Katherine Acuña-Umaña1Leonardo Lesser-Rojas2Darwin R. Reyes3Biophysical and Biomedical Measurements Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USAMedical Devices Master’s Program, Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica (ITCR), Cartago 30101, Costa RicaResearch Center in Atomic, Nuclear and Molecular Sciences (CICANUM), San José 11501, Costa RicaBiophysical and Biomedical Measurements Group, National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USABlood is a complex sample comprised mostly of plasma, red blood cells (RBCs), and other cells whose concentrations correlate to physiological or pathological health conditions. There are also many blood-circulating biomarkers, such as circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and various pathogens, that can be used as measurands to diagnose certain diseases. Microfluidic devices are attractive analytical tools for separating blood components in point-of-care (POC) applications. These platforms have the potential advantage of, among other features, being compact and portable. These features can eventually be exploited in clinics and rapid tests performed in households and low-income scenarios. Microfluidic systems have the added benefit of only needing small volumes of blood drawn from patients (from nanoliters to milliliters) while integrating (within the devices) the steps required before detecting analytes. Hence, these systems will reduce the associated costs of purifying blood components of interest (e.g., specific groups of cells or blood biomarkers) for studying and quantifying collected blood fractions. The microfluidic blood separation field has grown since the 2000s, and important advances have been reported in the last few years. Nonetheless, real POC microfluidic blood separation platforms are still elusive. A widespread consensus on what key figures of merit should be reported to assess the quality and yield of these platforms has not been achieved. Knowing what parameters should be reported for microfluidic blood separations will help achieve that consensus and establish a clear road map to promote further commercialization of these devices and attain real POC applications. This review provides an overview of the separation techniques currently used to separate blood components for higher throughput separations (number of cells or particles per minute). We present a summary of the critical parameters that should be considered when designing such devices and the figures of merit that should be explicitly reported when presenting a device’s separation capabilities. Ultimately, reporting the relevant figures of merit will benefit this growing community and help pave the road toward commercialization of these microfluidic systems.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/14/11/2117blood contentsblood sortingseparation of bloodfigures of meritlab-on-a-chipmicrofluidic separations |
| spellingShingle | Karina Torres-Castro Katherine Acuña-Umaña Leonardo Lesser-Rojas Darwin R. Reyes Microfluidic Blood Separation: Key Technologies and Critical Figures of Merit Micromachines blood contents blood sorting separation of blood figures of merit lab-on-a-chip microfluidic separations |
| title | Microfluidic Blood Separation: Key Technologies and Critical Figures of Merit |
| title_full | Microfluidic Blood Separation: Key Technologies and Critical Figures of Merit |
| title_fullStr | Microfluidic Blood Separation: Key Technologies and Critical Figures of Merit |
| title_full_unstemmed | Microfluidic Blood Separation: Key Technologies and Critical Figures of Merit |
| title_short | Microfluidic Blood Separation: Key Technologies and Critical Figures of Merit |
| title_sort | microfluidic blood separation key technologies and critical figures of merit |
| topic | blood contents blood sorting separation of blood figures of merit lab-on-a-chip microfluidic separations |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/14/11/2117 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT karinatorrescastro microfluidicbloodseparationkeytechnologiesandcriticalfiguresofmerit AT katherineacunaumana microfluidicbloodseparationkeytechnologiesandcriticalfiguresofmerit AT leonardolesserrojas microfluidicbloodseparationkeytechnologiesandcriticalfiguresofmerit AT darwinrreyes microfluidicbloodseparationkeytechnologiesandcriticalfiguresofmerit |