Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong SAR 999077, P. R. China.
Division of Life Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong SAR 999077, P. R. China.
Anal Chem. 2024 Feb 27;96(8):3508-3516. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c05290. Epub 2024 Feb 16.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-derived particles that exhibit diverse sizes, molecular contents, and clinical implications for various diseases depending on their specific subpopulations. However, fractionation of EV subpopulations with high resolution, efficiency, purity, and yield remains an elusive goal due to their diminutive sizes. In this study, we introduce a novel strategy that effectively separates EV subpopulations in a gel-free and label-free manner, using two-dimensional (2D) electrophoresis in a microfluidic artificial sieve. The microfabricated artificial sieve consists of periodically arranged micro-slit-well structures in a 2D array and generates an anisotropic electric field pattern to size fractionate EVs into discrete streams and steer the subpopulations into designated outlets for collection within a minute. Along with fractionating EV subpopulations, contaminants such as free proteins and short nucleic acids can be simultaneously directed to waste outlets, thus accomplishing both size fractionation and purification of EVs with high performance. Our platform offers a simple, rapid, and versatile solution for EV subpopulation isolation, which can potentially facilitate the discovery of biomarkers for specific EV subtypes and the development of EV-based therapeutics.
细胞外囊泡 (EVs) 是由细胞衍生的颗粒,根据其特定的亚群,表现出不同的大小、分子含量和对各种疾病的临床意义。然而,由于它们的微小尺寸,高分辨率、高效率、高纯度和高产量地分离 EV 亚群仍然是一个难以实现的目标。在本研究中,我们介绍了一种新的策略,使用微流控人工筛中的二维 (2D) 电泳,以无凝胶和无标记的方式有效地分离 EV 亚群。微加工的人工筛由二维阵列中周期性排列的微狭缝井结构组成,并产生各向异性的电场模式,将 EV 按大小分成离散的流,并在一分钟内将亚群引导到指定的收集出口。除了分离 EV 亚群外,还可以同时将污染物(如游离蛋白和短核酸)引导到废物出口,从而实现 EV 的高效大小分离和纯化。我们的平台为 EV 亚群分离提供了一种简单、快速和通用的解决方案,这可能有助于发现特定 EV 亚型的生物标志物,并开发基于 EV 的治疗方法。
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