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An integrated microfluidic system for counting of CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocytes

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Abstract

This study reports on an integrated microfluidic system capable of counting CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocytes from a whole blood sample, which may be further applied for the rapid screening of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This system is composed of a sample incubation module for fluorescence-labeling of the target cells and a micro-fabricated flow cytometry module for cell counting. First, a pneumatically driven, vortex-type micro-mixer has been adopted for the fluorescence-labeling of CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocytes from whole blood. After the labeling process, different laser-excited fluorescent signals are detected and are used for counting of CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocytes as they pass through the detection region of the microflow cytometer. A concentration of 963 cells/μl is counted for cultured CD4+ T lymphocytes with a reference concentration of 1000 cells/μl. The ratio of CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocytes is then calculated. Experimental results show that the results from the microsystem are in agreement with the ones from large-scale flow cytometers. In addition, the entire diagnostic procedure, including the sample incubation and the cell counting, can be automatically performed within 35 min. Therefore, this may become a powerful tool for further biomedical applications, especially for fast screening of HIV infection.

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Acknowledgment

This work is funded by the National Science Council under grant NSC-98-2218-E-006-234 and DOH99-TD-B-111-102.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 701, Taiwan

    Jung-Hao Wang, Chih-Hung Wang, Chun-Che Lin & Gwo-Bin Lee

  2. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, 701, Taiwan

    Huan-Yao Lei

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  1. Jung-Hao Wang
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  2. Chih-Hung Wang
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Correspondence to Gwo-Bin Lee.

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Wang, JH., Wang, CH., Lin, CC. et al. An integrated microfluidic system for counting of CD4+/CD8+ T lymphocytes. Microfluid Nanofluid 10, 531–541 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-010-0687-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-010-0687-z

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