Issue 21, 2017

Streamline-based purification of bacterial samples from liquefied sputum utilizing microfluidics

Abstract

The separation or purification of bacterial samples from a mixed cell suspension is critical in a variety of biomedical applications, such as sputum diagnostics and cell biology studies. We propose a streamline-based microfluidic filtration device for highly efficient purification of bacterial samples from a mixed cell suspension. The device is composed of tens of repeated streamline-based separation units that continuously filter the solution. By injecting a liquid sample such as liquefied human sputum solution through the device, approximately 50% of the injected sample solution can be collected from the filtration collection channels, which filter approximately 99.9% of the mammalian cells but retain approximately 60% to 90% of the bacteria. Different injection rates (0.2 ml h−1 to 30 ml h−1), different sample viscosities, and different initial bacterial densities were tested and confirmed that our separation method was robust. The easy operation, robustness and high efficiency indicate that our method may be useful for the separation or purification of bacterial samples from a mixed cell suspension, such as bacterial samples for sputum diagnostics.

Graphical abstract: Streamline-based purification of bacterial samples from liquefied sputum utilizing microfluidics

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Jul 2017
Accepted
21 Sep 2017
First published
27 Sep 2017

Lab Chip, 2017,17, 3601-3608

Streamline-based purification of bacterial samples from liquefied sputum utilizing microfluidics

T. Wu, C. Shao, L. Li, S. Wang, Q. Ouyang, Y. Kang and C. Luo, Lab Chip, 2017, 17, 3601 DOI: 10.1039/C7LC00771J

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