Microfluidic impedance flow cytometer leveraging virtual constriction microchannel and its application in leukocyte...

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Analytical Chemistry
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Microfluidic impedance flow cytometry is crucial for leukocyte analysis but faces throughput-sensitivity trade-offs.
• Conventional methods struggle with cell-channel interactions impacting performance.
• A need exists for advanced flow cytometry techniques for improved blood diagnostics.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a microfluidic impedance flow cytometer with enhanced throughput and sensitivity.
• To overcome the limitations of traditional microfluidic constriction channels.
• To demonstrate the system's capability for accurate cell differentiation and counting.

Main Methods:

• A virtual constriction microchannel was created using crossflow of sample and sheath fluids with micro-electrodes.
• Impedance pulses from leukemia cell lines (K562, Jurkat, HL-60) were measured.
• White blood cell subpopulations (neutrophils, eosinophils, monocytes, lymphocytes) from donors were analyzed.

Main Results:

• Achieved 99.8% differentiation accuracy for leukemia cell lines using a recurrent neural network.
• Attained ≥99.2% classification accuracy for four white blood cell subpopulations.
• Demonstrated proportional distribution of leukocyte subpopulations in mixtures, validating the model.

Conclusions:

• The virtual constriction microfluidic impedance flow cytometer offers high throughput and sensitivity.
• This technology shows significant potential for clinical diagnostics and blood analysis.
• The system provides a robust platform for precise leukocyte differential counting.