Application of a microfluidic device for counting of bacteria.
OBJECTIVE
To develop a miniaturized analytical system for counting of bacteria.


RESULTS
Escherichia coli cells were used throughout the experiments. The system consists of a microfluidic chamber, a fluorescence microscope with a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera and syringe pumps. The chamber was made of a silicone rubber (30 x 30 mm and 4 mm high). The E. coli cells were flowed from a micro-nozzle fabricated in the chamber and detected with the CCD camera. The individual cells were indicated as signal peaks on a computer. The cell counts showed a good correlation compared with that of a conventional plate counting method, and results of the simultaneous detection of live and dead cells were also presented.


CONCLUSIONS
The system having a small disposable nozzle has the advantages for low cost and safe medical or environmental analysis, when compared with a conventional flow cytometer. This is the first step of the development of a one-chip microbe analyzer.
Inatomi
K-I
KI
Systems Technology Laboratory, Advanced Technology R & D Center, Mitsubishi Electric Corp, Japan. kinatomi@rite.or.jp
Izuo
S-I
SI
Lee
S-S
SS
D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000191:economics; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000191:economics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008904:Miniaturization / Q000379:methods