Fully automated light transmission aggregometry on a disc for platelet function tests.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Hematology
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Platelet function tests assess blood clotting and are vital in diagnosing platelet disorders and guiding antiplatelet therapy.
• Light transmission aggregometry (LTA) is the gold standard but suffers from a lack of standardization, high blood volume requirements, and labor-intensiveness.
• Current limitations hinder point-of-care application and rapid clinical decision-making.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design, fabricate, and operate a centrifugal microfluidic disc for automated LTA.
• To overcome the limitations of traditional LTA assays, enabling point-of-care testing.
• To achieve rapid, reproducible, and accurate platelet function assessment from small blood volumes.

Main Methods:

• Development of a novel centrifugal microfluidic disc platform.
• Implementation of automated reaction steps and a robust detection strategy within the microfluidic chamber.
• Assay validation using whole blood samples with a target volume of <1 mL.

Main Results:

• The microfluidic disc successfully performed automated LTA assays.
• Achieved highly reproducible results with a coefficient of variation of 3.2%.
• Completed assays within a short timeframe of <25 minutes, demonstrating high precision and accuracy.

Conclusions:

• The centrifugal microfluidic disc offers a fully automated, rapid, and precise LTA assay.
• This technology significantly improves upon traditional LTA, addressing key limitations for clinical use.
• Enables efficient point-of-care platelet function testing with minimal sample volume and human intervention.