Isolation and analysis of extracellular vesicles in a Morpho butterfly wing-integrated microvortex biochip

• Published in: Biosensors & bioelectronics 2020-04, Vol.154, p.112073, Article 112073
• Main Authors: Han, Shanying, Xu, Yueshuang, Sun, Jie, Liu, Yufeng, Zhao, Yuanjin, Tao, Weiguo, Chai, Renjie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biochip; Butterfly; Extracellular vesicle; Isolation; Microfluidics
• ISSN: 0956-5663; 1873-4235
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bios.2020.112073

With the function of mediating intercellular communication between cells, extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been intently studied for their physiopathology and clinical application values. However, efficient EV isolation from biological fluids remains a significant challenge. To address this, this work constructs a new microvortex chip that can isolate EVs efficiently by integrating the lipid nanoprobe modified Morpho Menelaus (M. Menelaus) butterfly wing into microfluidic chip. M. Menelaus wing is well known for its orderly arranged periodic nanostructures and can generate microvortex when liquid passes through it, leading to increased interaction between EVs and M. Menelaus wing. In addition, the nanoprobe containing lipid tails can be inserted into EVs through their lipid bilayer membrane structure. Based on the described properties, high-throughput enrichment of EVs with over 70% isolation efficiency was realized. Moreover, it was demonstrated that the nanoprobe system based on M. Menelaus wing enabled downstream biological analysis of nucleic acids and proteins in EVs. Microvortex chips showed potential application value in efficient EV isolation for biomedical research and cancer diagnosis. Efficient EV isolation and enrichment by the lipid nanoprobe modifed Morpho wings. The Morpho wings with micro-groove structures were modified with lipid nanoprobes. As the lipid tail of the nanoprobes could insert into EV membranes, EVs could be captured by Morpho wings efficiently. [Display omitted] •We used butterfly wings to isolate EVs, and integrated wings into microfluidic chips and constructed a new type of microvortex chips for EVs enrichment.•M. Menelaus wings as a natural photonic crystal, can enhance the fluorescence intensity which is benefit for the biological detection.•M. Menelaus wings modified with lipid nanoprobes can achieve high-throughput enrichment of EVs.