Chemical and Environmental Engineering Institute , Dalian University , 11662 Dalian , China.
Environmental Micro Total Analysis Lab , Dalian University , 11662 Dalian , China.
Anal Chem. 2018 Nov 20;90(22):13280-13289. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b02597. Epub 2018 Nov 5.
Because of the crucial ecological significance of microalgae, microalgal bioassays have become one of the most demanding tests from all classic aquatic toxicity tests in regulatory frameworks. However, conventional algal tests tend to be lab-intensive and time- and space-consuming, and they have not been utilized to their full potential for routine toxicity assessments. Microfluidics should be a user-friendly alternative. Particularly, dilution to generate gradients that are appropriate for screening experiments can be precisely attained by microfluidic network in a simple and cost-/time-/space-saving way. Here, we demonstrate a microfluidics series toward routine microalgal bioassays, including pretest, single, and joint toxicity test. The chip mainly consists of upstream dilution network (single serial dilution module (logarithmic/linear gradient generator) or multiple (binary/ternary/quaternary) mixing serial dilution module) and downstream diffusible culturing module. It allows the processes of chemical liquid dilution and diffusion, microscale microalgal culture, cell stimulation, and online screening to be integrated into a single device. Electric theorems with the aid of EDA (electronic design automation) simulation were innovatively introduced to minimize design effort for such systems. Using the device, microalgae were successfully cultured and stressed on-chip. The simple assay provides multibiological trait assessments of cell division rate, autofluorescence, esterase activity, and mobile capacity. This work showed promise in developing a high-throughput microfluidic platform for microalgal bioassays as well as lab-on-a-chip screening experiments in the cell-based quantitative assessment of environmental health risks.
由于微藻具有至关重要的生态意义，因此微藻生物测定已成为监管框架中所有经典水生毒性测试中要求最高的测试之一。然而，传统的藻类测试往往需要大量的实验室工作，耗费时间和空间，并且尚未充分发挥其在常规毒性评估中的潜力。微流控技术应该是一种用户友好的替代方法。特别是，通过微流控网络可以以简单、节省成本/时间/空间的方式精确地实现生成适合筛选实验的梯度的稀释。在这里，我们展示了一系列用于常规微藻生物测定的微流控技术，包括预试验、单一毒性试验和联合毒性试验。该芯片主要由上游稀释网络（单个串联稀释模块（对数/线性梯度发生器）或多个（二进制/三元/四元）混合串联稀释模块）和下游可扩散培养模块组成。它允许化学液体稀释和扩散、微尺度微藻培养、细胞刺激和在线筛选过程集成到单个设备中。借助电子设计自动化 (EDA) 模拟，创新地引入了电定理，以最小化此类系统的设计工作量。使用该设备，成功地在芯片上培养和刺激了微藻。简单的测定提供了细胞分裂率、自发荧光、酯酶活性和迁移能力等多种生物学特征评估。这项工作有望开发出高通量微流控平台，用于微藻生物测定以及基于细胞的环境健康风险定量评估中的芯片筛选实验。
