1 Materials Science and Manufacturing, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa.
2 microfluidic ChipShop GmbH, Jena, Germany.
SLAS Technol. 2017 Apr;22(2):176-185. doi: 10.1177/2211068216677820. Epub 2016 Nov 19.
Disposable, low-cost microfluidic cartridges for automated blood cell counting applications are presented in this article. The need for point-of-care medical diagnostic tools is evident, particularly in low-resource and rural settings, and a full blood count is often the first step in patient diagnosis. Total white and red blood cell counts have been implemented toward a full blood count, using microfluidic cartridges with automated sample introduction and processing steps for visual microscopy cell counting to be performed. The functional steps within the microfluidic cartridge as well as the surrounding instrumentation required to control and test the cartridges in an automated fashion are described. The results recorded from 10 white blood cell and 10 red blood cell counting cartridges are presented and compare well with the results obtained from the accepted gold-standard flow cytometry method performed at pathology laboratories. Comparisons were also made using manual methods of blood cell counting using a hemocytometer, as well as a commercially available point-of-care white blood cell counting system. The functionality of the blood cell counting microfluidic cartridges can be extended to platelet counting and potential hemoglobin analysis, toward the implementation of an automated, point-of-care full blood count.
本文介绍了一种用于自动化血细胞计数应用的一次性、低成本微流控芯片。在医疗诊断工具方面，即时检测(point-of-care)的需求是显而易见的，特别是在资源匮乏和农村地区，而全血细胞计数通常是患者诊断的第一步。本文通过使用带有自动化样本引入和处理步骤的微流控芯片，实现了总白细胞和红细胞计数，以进行目视显微镜细胞计数。本文描述了微流控芯片内的功能步骤以及周围的仪器仪表，这些仪器仪表用于以自动化的方式控制和测试微流控芯片。本文呈现了从 10 个白细胞和 10 个红细胞计数微流控芯片中记录的结果，与在病理实验室中使用公认的金标准流式细胞术方法获得的结果进行了比较。还使用血细胞计数器的手动血细胞计数方法以及市售的即时护理白细胞计数系统进行了比较。血细胞计数微流控芯片的功能可以扩展到血小板计数和潜在的血红蛋白分析，以实现自动化的即时护理全血细胞计数。
