Microfluidic Biochip for Blood Cell Lysis

Based on the micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology, a sandwich flow microfluidic biochip for blood cell lysis was designed and fabricated. The cell solution was sandwiched in between the chemical reagent solution, and both were introduced into the biochip. The two solutions were then flowing through the microchannel of the biochip. Finally, cells lysis was brought about by complete blend of the cell solution and the chemical reagent solution during continuous flow. Rat blood with anticoagulant was the cell sample, while guanidine and Triton X-100 were used as the lysing reagents, respectively, and the effects of the two reagents on cell lysis were compared. The effects of the cell concentration and the flow rate on cell lysis were analyzed using guanidine as the lysing reagent. Blood cells can be lysed in a few minutes when the flow rate of the lysing reagent is considerably faster than the flow rate of the cell sample. Blood cells can be rapid lysed in microfluidic biochip when the flow rates of the lysing reagent and the cell sample are increased simultaneously in the above proportion. The sandwich-type microfluidic biochip for cell lysis potentially integrated with the biochip for cell separation and the biochip for DNA extraction could enable complete pretreatment of complex biologic samples, which can lay the foundation for the realization of the micro total analytic system (μ TAS).