Issue 14, 2021

High-throughput microfluidic compressibility cytometry using multi-tilted-angle surface acoustic wave

Abstract

Cellular mechanical properties (e.g. compressibility) are important biophysical markers in relation to cellular processes and functionality. Among the methods for cell mechanical measurement, acoustofluidic methods appear to be advantageous due to tunability, biocompatibility and acousto-mechanical nature. However, the previous acoustofluidic methods were limited in throughput and number of measurements. In this study, we developed a high-throughput microfluidic compressibility cytometry approach using multi-tilted-angle surface acoustic wave, which can provide thousands of single-cell compressibility measurements within minutes. The compressibility cytometer was constructed to drag microparticles or cells towards the microfluidic channel sidewall at different segments based on their biophysical properties (such as size and compressibility), as a result of the varied balance between acoustics and flow. Mathematical analysis and computational simulation revealed that the compressibility of a cell could be estimated from the position of collision with the sidewall. Microbeads of different materials and sizes were experimentally tested to validate the simulation and to demonstrate the capability to characterise size and compressibility. MDA MB231 cells, of the triple negative breast cancer subtype, were treated with the microtubule disrupting agent colchicine which increased compressibility and treated with the actin disrupting agent cytochalasin B which increased cell size but did not change compressibility. Moreover, the highly metastatic variant MDA MB231 LNm5 cell line showed increased compressibility compared to the parent MDA MB231 cells, indicating the potential utility of high-throughput mechanophenotyping for tumour cell characterisation.

Graphical abstract: High-throughput microfluidic compressibility cytometry using multi-tilted-angle surface acoustic wave

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Mar 2021
Accepted
31 May 2021
First published
04 Jun 2021

Lab Chip, 2021,21, 2812-2824

High-throughput microfluidic compressibility cytometry using multi-tilted-angle surface acoustic wave

Y. Wu, A. G. Stewart and P. V. S. Lee, Lab Chip, 2021, 21, 2812 DOI: 10.1039/D1LC00186H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements