Open AccessBlood diagnostics using sedimentation to extract plasma on a fully integrated point‐of‐care microfluidic system
Author(s) -
Samborski Adam,
Jankowski Paweł,
Węgrzyn Judyta,
Michalski Jacek A.,
Pawłowska Sylwia,
Jakieła Sławomir,
Garstecki Piotr
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.201400077
Subject(s) - microfluidics , sedimentation , point of care , biomedical engineering , plasma , chromatography , computer science , nanotechnology , chemistry , materials science , engineering , biology , medicine , physics , pathology , sediment , quantum mechanics , paleontology
Blood is the richest source of diagnostic information. The growing interest in point‐of‐care analytics prompted several attempts to extract plasma from whole blood in simple diagnostic devices. The simplest method of separation is sedimentation. Here we show the first microfluidic system that uses sedimentation to extract plasma from undiluted blood and integrates execution of liquid assays on the extracted material. We present a microfluidic chip that accepts a small sample (27 μL) of whole blood, separates up to 6 μL of plasma, and uses metered volumes of plasma and of reagent (2‐chloro‐4‐nitrophenyl‐α‐maltotrioside, CNP‐G3) for a liquid enzymatic assay. With a custom designed channel, the system separates blood by sedimentation within few minutes of accepting the sample, mixes it with the reagent, and quantifies spectrophotometrically the product of the enzymatic reaction. As a model demonstration, we show a quantitative enzymatic α‐amylase assay that is routinely used in diagnosis of pancreas diseases. The paper reports the design and characterization of the microfluidic device and the results of tests on clinically collected blood samples. The results obtained with the microfluidic system compare well to a reference bench‐top analyzer.