A portable blood plasma clot micro-elastometry device based on resonant acoustic spectroscopy

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Abnormal blood clot stiffness is a key indicator of coagulation disorders linked to cardiovascular diseases and treatments.
• Existing methods like thromboelastography have limitations in repeatability and accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a portable instrument for precise elastometry of microliter blood samples.
• To introduce a novel device, CEMport, for measuring clot elastic modulus (CEM).

Main Methods:

• Utilizing resonant acoustic spectroscopy with a magnetically actuated microbead force transducer (23 pN to 6.7 nN).
• Employing a high-resolution displacement sensor (2 nm) for accurate CEM measurement.
• Applying small strains (<0.13%) and low strain rates (<1/s) for perturbative Young's modulus measurement.

Main Results:

• The CEMport demonstrated high accuracy (3%) and precision (2%) in biogel measurements.
• The device accurately measured clot elastic modulus (CEM) across a wide dynamic range (3 Pa-27 kPa).
• CEMport detected heparin levels below 0.050 U/ml in blood plasma.

Conclusions:

• The portable CEMport offers enhanced accuracy and repeatability for blood clot stiffness measurement.
• This technology has potential applications in diagnosing coagulation disorders and monitoring heparin therapy.
• CEMport enables new clinical and animal studies for improved diagnostics and therapeutic monitoring.