A Numerical Simulation of Cell Separation by Simplified Asymmetric Pinched Flow Fractionation.
As a typical microfluidic cell sorting technique, the size-dependent cell sorting has attracted much interest in recent years. In this paper, a size-dependent cell sorting scheme is presented based on a controllable asymmetric pinched flow by employing an immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM). The geometry of channels consists of 2 upstream branches, 1 transitional channel, and 4 downstream branches (D-branches). Simulations are conducted by varying inlet flow ratio, the cell size, and the ratio of flux of outlet 4 to the total flux. It is found that, after being randomly released in one upstream branch, the cells are aligned in a line close to one sidewall of the transitional channel due to the hydrodynamic forces of the asymmetric pinched flow. Cells with different sizes can be fed into different downstream D-branches just by regulating the flux of one D-branch. A principle governing D-branch choice of a cell is obtained, with which a series of numerical cases are performed to sort the cell mixture involving two, three, or four classes of diameters. Results show that, for each case, an adaptive regulating flux can be determined to sort the cell mixture effectively.
School of Life Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; School of Engineering and Information Technology, University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT 2600, Australia.
Jing-Tao
JT
Ma
School of Life Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; Key Laboratory of Convergence Medical Engineering System and Healthcare Technology, The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
Yuan-Qing
0000-0002-4482-893X
YQ
Xu
School of Life Science, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China; Key Laboratory of Convergence Medical Engineering System and Healthcare Technology, The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
Xiao-Ying
XY
Tang
D000465:Algorithms; D001698:Biomedical Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D048429:Cell Size; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D057446:Hydrodynamics; D056656:Lab-On-A-Chip Devices; D044085:Microfluidics; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength