Cell chemotaxis on paper for diagnostics.
Microfluidic chemotaxis platforms have historically been utilized to probe phenomena such as neutrophil migration and are beginning to be developed for diagnostic applications; however, current microfluidic chemotaxis systems require specialized engineering equipment such as syringe pumps and long time frames (hours) to develop a chemokine gradient, and cell chemotaxis typically requires multiple additional hours. The paperfluidic device described in this work is a low-cost, sharp (2 mm wide), quasi-stable (at least 20 min) and rapidly generated (<1 s) chemokine gradient system capable of examining cell migration response over short time frames (20 min) that can be easily assembled. A proof-of-concept experiment on human pan-T cells showed significant (p ≪ 0.01) directed migration to the chemokine gradient over the control condition. This new technique for cell migration studies provides a foundational step in designing microfluidic chemotactic platforms for point-of-care diagnostics.
†Department of Bioengineering, ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, §Department of Biology, ∥Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
David I
DI
Walsh
†Department of Bioengineering, ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, §Department of Biology, ∥Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Mark L
ML
Lalli
†Department of Bioengineering, ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, §Department of Biology, ∥Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Juliette M
JM
Kassas
†Department of Bioengineering, ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, §Department of Biology, ∥Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Anand R
AR
Asthagiri
†Department of Bioengineering, ‡Department of Chemical Engineering, §Department of Biology, ∥Barnett Institute of Chemical and Biological Analysis, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States.
Shashi K
SK
Murthy
D002465:Cell Movement; D002633:Chemotaxis; D019719:Diagnostic Equipment; D006801:Humans; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D010209:Paper; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology