Photocell-Based Optofluidic Device for Clogging-Free Cell Transit Time Measurements

Area of Science:

• Biophysics
• Microfluidics
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Cell deformability is crucial for understanding cell physiology and disease.
• Current methods for measuring cell transit time are often complex and require bulky equipment.
• Developing simpler, robust diagnostic tools for cell analysis is a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a microfluidic device coupled with photocells for rapid and accurate measurement of cell transit time.
• To demonstrate the utility of this device for assessing cell deformability.
• To overcome the limitations of existing techniques for diagnostic applications.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a monolithic 3D microfluidic device using femtosecond laser irradiation followed by chemical etching (FLICE).
• Integration of photocells for optical detection of cells passing through a 3D constriction.
• Measurement of transit times for breast cancer cells (MCF-7) and Latrunculin A-treated MCF-7 cells.

Main Results:

• Successfully measured transit times of MCF-7 cells without complex external instrumentation.
• Demonstrated a measurable difference in transit times between pristine and drug-treated cells, indicating altered deformability.
• Achieved high throughput (4000-10,000 cells/min) with a clogging-free operation.

Conclusions:

• The developed microfluidic-photocell device offers a simplified, robust, and high-throughput method for cell transit time measurement.
• This approach facilitates the study of cell deformability and has potential for diagnostic applications.
• The ease of use and lack of demanding computational efforts bring this technique closer to real-world scenarios.