Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Center for Sensors and Devices, Via Sommarive 18, Povo, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto di Biofisica, 38123 Trento, Italy.
Sensors (Basel). 2022 Jun 24;22(13):4788. doi: 10.3390/s22134788.
Platelets are emerging as a promising source of blood biomarkers for several pathologies, including cancer. New automated techniques for easier manipulation of platelets in the context of lab-on-a-chips could be of great support for liquid biopsy. Here, several polymeric materials were investigated for their behavior in terms of adhesion and activation of human platelets. Polymeric materials were selected among the most used in microfabrication (PDMS, PMMA and COC) and commercial and home-made resins for 3D printing technology with the aim to identify the most suitable for the realization of microdevices for human platelets isolation and analysis. To visualize adherent platelets and their activation state scanning, electron microscopy was used, while confocal microscopy was used for evaluating platelets' features. In addition, atomic force microscopy was employed to further study platelets adherent to the polymeric materials. Polymers were divided in two main groups: the most prone to platelet adhesion and materials that cause few or no platelets to adhere. Therefore, different polymeric materials could be identified as suitable for the realization of microdevices aimed at capturing human platelets, while other materials could be employed for the fabrication of microdevices or parts of microdevices for the processing of platelets, without loss on surfaces during the process.
血小板作为几种病理学（包括癌症）的血液生物标志物的潜在来源正在逐渐显现。在芯片实验室背景下，用于更轻松地操作血小板的新型自动化技术可能对液体活检有很大的帮助。在这里，研究了几种聚合物材料在人血小板黏附和激活方面的行为。选择了微加工中最常用的聚合物材料（PDMS、PMMA 和 COC）以及用于 3D 打印技术的商业和家用树脂，目的是确定最适合用于实现用于人血小板分离和分析的微器件的材料。为了可视化黏附的血小板及其激活状态，使用扫描电子显微镜，同时使用共聚焦显微镜评估血小板的特征。此外，原子力显微镜用于进一步研究黏附在聚合物材料上的血小板。聚合物分为两个主要组：最容易黏附血小板的材料和几乎不引起血小板黏附的材料。因此，可以确定不同的聚合物材料适合用于实现旨在捕获人血小板的微器件，而其他材料可以用于制造微器件或微器件的一部分，用于处理血小板，而不会在处理过程中在表面上损失。
