Department of Chemistry and Institute for Biophysical Dynamics, The University of Chicago, 929 East 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Chem Soc Rev. 2010 Mar;39(3):974-84. doi: 10.1039/b917851a. Epub 2010 Jan 12.
Rare cells can be difficult to analyze because they either occur in low numbers or coexist with a more abundant cell type, yet their detection is crucial for diagnosing disease and maintaining human health. In this tutorial review, we introduce the concept of microfluidic stochastic confinement for use in detection and analysis of rare cells. Stochastic confinement provides two advantages: (1) it separates rare single cells from the bulk mixture and (2) it allows signals to locally accumulate to a higher concentration around a single cell than in the bulk mixture. Microfluidics is an attractive method for implementing stochastic confinement because it provides simple handling of small volumes. We present technologies for microfluidic stochastic confinement that utilize both wells and droplets for the detection and analysis of single cells. We address how these microfluidic technologies have been used to observe new behavior, increase speed of detection, and enhance cultivation of rare cells. We discuss potential applications of microfluidic stochastic confinement to fields such as human diagnostics and environmental testing.
稀有细胞很难分析，因为它们要么数量较少，要么与更丰富的细胞类型共存，但检测它们对于诊断疾病和维护人类健康至关重要。在本教程综述中，我们介绍了用于稀有细胞检测和分析的微流控随机限制概念。随机限制提供了两个优势：（1）它将稀有单细胞从批量混合物中分离出来；（2）它允许信号在单细胞周围局部积累到比批量混合物更高的浓度。微流控技术是实现随机限制的一种有吸引力的方法，因为它可以简单地处理小体积。我们介绍了用于微流控随机限制的技术，这些技术利用井和液滴来检测和分析单细胞。我们讨论了这些微流控技术如何用于观察新的行为、提高检测速度和增强稀有细胞的培养。我们讨论了微流控随机限制在人类诊断和环境测试等领域的潜在应用。
