3D printing integrated trapezoidal spiral chip coupled with ICP-MS for single-cells analysis

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Biotechnology
• Materials Science

Background:

• Single-cell analysis using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has advanced significantly.
• Developing integrated microfluidic systems is crucial for efficient cellular analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel method for determining silver (Ag) in single cells.
• To integrate a microfluidic chip with single-cell (SC)-ICP-MS for enhanced cellular analysis.

Main Methods:

• Utilized photocuring 3D printing to fabricate an integrated microfluidic chip.
• Incorporated concentration gradient generation, cell culture array, and trapezoidal spiral focusing units.
• Developed an on-chip method combining the microfluidic chip with SC-ICP-MS.

Main Results:

• 3D printing enabled rapid, cost-effective fabrication of intricate microfluidic chip structures.
• The approach achieved high-throughput single-cell analysis (63,375 cells/min) with high cell recovery (approx. 94%).
• Analysis of MCF-7 cells exposed to Ag+ or silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) revealed significant differences at the single-cell level, particularly for AgNPs.

Conclusions:

• 3D printing technology facilitates easier integration of microfluidic chip components.
• The integrated platform enables on-chip cell culture, eliminating off-chip cleaning steps.
• This platform offers high cell recovery and throughput, proving valuable for single-cell analysis.