Performance characteristics of a microfluidic Lab-on-Chip electrophoresis system for high-density lipoprotein (HDL)...

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Diagnostics
• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is crucial for preventing coronary heart disease (CHD).
• HDL subfractions, particularly HDL 2b, are vital for CHD prevention.
• Existing HDL subfraction measurement methods lack standardization and have poor analytical performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a standardized microfluidic Lab-on-Chip electrophoresis system for measuring HDL subfractions.
• To accurately quantify the percentage of HDL 2b within total HDL cholesterol (HDL-C).

Main Methods:

• A microfluidic Lab-on-Chip electrophoresis system utilizing linear polymers as a sieving buffer for HDL particle separation.
• Analysis of nine samples and two controls within 30 minutes.
• Reporting the percentage of HDL 2b in total HDL-C.

Main Results:

• The system accurately measured percent HDL 2b in samples with HDL-C ranging from 0.259-2.072 mmol/L.
• Achieved coefficients of variation (%CVs) below 8% and total precision typically below 1.5%.
• Demonstrated good linearity (8%-32% HDL 2b) and robustness against various compounds, with high inter-laboratory reproducibility (r² values 0.93-0.95).

Conclusions:

• The developed assay provides an easy and reproducible method for measuring percent HDL 2b.
• The system's experimental procedure and compact instrumentation make it suitable for clinical settings.
• This advancement offers a reliable tool for assessing CHD risk through HDL subfraction analysis.