New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

Tiny channel cleanses blood

Date:
May 2, 2012
Source:
American Institute of Physics
Summary:
A microfluidic device separates bacteria and immune cells from red blood cells.
Share:
FULL STORY

Margination, the natural phenomenon where bacteria and leukocytes (white blood cells) move toward the sides of blood vessels, is the inspiration for a novel method for treating sepsis, a systemic and often dangerous inflammatory response to microbial infection in the blood. A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National University of Singapore has designed a branchlike system of microfluidic channels, 20 micrometers (20 millionths of a meter, or about one-fifth the size of a grain of sand) high by 20 micrometers wide, that mimic the marginizing action of vessels on bacteria and inflammatory cellular components (leukocytes and platelets) to separate them from red blood cells.

The microchannel network is etched onto a polymer chip by the same techniques used for manufacturing integrated circuits. As infected whole blood flows through the first part of the microchannel, red cells migrate toward the center while the unwanted cell types flow toward the side walls. Like a biological railway junction, the second part of the microchannel is divided into three branches with red cells taking the middle path and the marginated microbes, leukocytes, and platelets moving into the two outer ones. A second three-branch junction further purifies the red cell fraction, which could then be returned to a patient in a real-life situation.

In their experiment with the prototype device, the researchers demonstrated highly efficient removal of the bacteria Escherichia coli (80 percent) and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (90 percent) as well as a greater than 80 percent depletion of inflammatory cellular components. The researchers also designed and tested a larger blood cleansing system consisting of six microfluidic channel networks in parallel.

Currently, they are conducting a small-scale animal test to validate the efficacy of the technique in vivo.


Story Source:

Materials provided by American Institute of Physics. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Han Wei Hou, Hiong Yap Gan, Ali Asgar S. Bhagat, Leon D. Li, Chwee Teck Lim, Jongyoon Han. A microfluidics approach towards high-throughput pathogen removal from blood using margination. Biomicrofluidics, 2012; 6 (2): 024115 DOI: 10.1063/1.4710992

Cite This Page:

American Institute of Physics. "Tiny channel cleanses blood." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 2 May 2012. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120502112912.htm>.
American Institute of Physics. (2012, May 2). Tiny channel cleanses blood. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 19, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120502112912.htm
American Institute of Physics. "Tiny channel cleanses blood." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120502112912.htm (accessed March 19, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES