title: A microfluidic device for separating erythrocytes polluted by lead (II) from a continuous bloodstream flow.
abstract: To sort and separate erythrocytes contaminated by lead (II) from whole bloodstream flow, the first step is to use a microchannel to transport the blood cells into a microdevice. Within the device, polluted erythrocytes can be separated from the bloodstream by applying local dielectrophoretic (DEP) forces. Exploiting the fact that Pb(2+)  ions attach to the membranes of the erythrocytes, we utilize the microfluidic DEP device to perform property-based fractionation of the blood samples and to separate the polluted erythrocytes from the continuous bloodstream flow. Atomic absorption spectrometer analysis reveals that, to remove lead-polluted erythrocytes, the most effective driving velocity was less than 0.1 cm/s through our microfluidic DEP device, based on an applied power of 10 V(peak-peak)  and a frequency of 15.5 MHz AC field. We were able to remove 80% of the polluted erythrocytes. Using gentle DEP manipulating techniques to efficiently sort unique cells within a complex biological sample may potentially allow biological sorting to be performed outside of hospitals, in facilities without biological analyzing equipment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Oriental Institute of Technology, New Taipei City, Taiwan. avian@mail.oit.edu.tw
authors.forename: Ming-Wen
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002469:Cell Separation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004586:Electrophoresis; D004867:Equipment Design; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology*; D006801:Humans; D007854:Lead / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood* / Q000737:chemistry; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008954:Models, Biological; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic
chemical_list: D007854:Lead