Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Lab Chip. 2012 Sep 21;12(18):3399-407. doi: 10.1039/c2lc40290d. Epub 2012 Jul 11.
To isolate clinically and biologically relevant cell types from a heterogeneous population, fluorescent or magnetic tagging together with knowledge of surface biomarker profiles represents the state of the art. To date, it remains exceedingly difficult to separate phenotypically and physically similar cell types from a mixed population. We report a microfluidic platform engineered to separate two highly similar cell types using a single antibody by taking advantage of subtle variations in surface receptor density and cell size. This platform utilizes antibody-conjugated surfaces in microfluidic channels together with precise modulation of fluid shear stresses to accomplish selective fractionation in a continuous flow process. Antibody conjugation density variation on the adhesive surfaces is achieved by covalently immobilizing an antibody in the presence of poly(ethylene glycol). This platform is used to demonstrate separation of two CD31 positive cell types, human umbilical vein endothelial cells and human micro vascular endothelial cells.
为了从异质群体中分离具有临床和生物学相关性的细胞类型，荧光或磁性标记加上对表面生物标志物特征的了解代表了该领域的最新技术。迄今为止，仍然极难从混合群体中分离出表型和物理上相似的细胞类型。我们报告了一种微流控平台，该平台利用表面受体密度和细胞大小的细微差异，通过利用单一抗体来分离两种高度相似的细胞类型。该平台利用微流道中的抗体偶联表面，并通过精确调节流体剪切力，在连续流动过程中实现选择性分馏。在存在聚乙二醇的情况下，通过共价固定抗体来实现粘附表面上抗体结合密度的变化。该平台用于演示两种 CD31 阳性细胞类型（人脐静脉内皮细胞和人微血管内皮细胞）的分离。
