Flow plate separation of cells based on elastic properties: a computational study

Medical studies have consistently shown that the best defense against cancer is early detection. Due to this, many efforts have been made to develop methods of screening patient blood quickly and cheaply. These methods range from separation via differences in size, electrostatic potential, chemical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biomechanics and modeling in mechanobiology 2019-04, Vol.18 (2), p.425-433
Main Authors: Becton, Matthew, Averett, Rodney D., Wang, Xianqiao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and Medical Physics
Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering
Biophysics
Blood
Blood circulation
Cancer
Chemical potential
Computer applications
Cytometry
Cytoskeleton
Design factors
Elastic properties
Electrostatic properties
Engineering
Erythrocytes
Leukocytes
Organic chemistry
Original Paper
Separation
Space life sciences
Stiffness
Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
Tumor cells
Tumors
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Summary:Medical studies have consistently shown that the best defense against cancer is early detection. Due to this, many efforts have been made to develop methods of screening patient blood quickly and cheaply. These methods range from separation via differences in size, electrostatic potential, chemical potential, antibody-binding affinity, among others. We propose a method of separating cells which have similar size and outer coatings, but which differ in their elastic properties. Such a method would be useful in detecting cancerous cells, which may have similar properties to leukocytes or erythrocytes but differ in their stiffness and deformation response. Here, we use coarse-grained model of a cell with membrane, cytoskeleton, and inner fluid to determine how small changes in the cell stiffness may be used to quickly and efficiently separate out irregular cells such as circulating tumor cells from a sample of blood. We focus specifically on the effects of volumetric flux and plate geometry on the ability of a separation plate to differentiate cells of similar but disparate stiffnesses. We show that volumetric flux is crucial in determining the stiffness cutoff for separating out cells of similar sizes, while the angle of the separation plate plays a less important role. With this work, we provide a comprehensive approach to the design factors of cell separation via elastic properties and hope to offer a guideline for the development of novel cytometry devices for the detection of irregular cells such as circulating tumor cells.
ISSN:1617-7959
1617-7940
DOI:10.1007/s10237-018-1093-9