A microfluidic device for separating erythrocytes polluted by lead (II) from a continuous bloodstream flow

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.