SUMMARY:
UCLA researchers in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology have developed a novel microfluidic device that enables rapid measurement of cell mechanical properties.
BACKGROUND:
Cell mechanical properties are emerging as a label-free biomarker for altered cell and pathological states. Information about cells, such as their elastic modulus, viscosity, or compliance, can be acquired using a variety of standard measurement techniques. However, these measurements are often at slow rates (~1 cell/min) and faster throughputs are difficult to achieve. Deformability cytometry methods have been developed for high throughput methods, but these typically do not enable calibrated measurements of cell mechanical properties and/or cannot enable higher throughput analyses of single cells.
INNOVATION:
UCLA researchers have developed a novel method of cytometry to measure cell mechanical properties. Cells are constrained using air pressure through a microfluidic device and their progress through the network of channels is measured using a brightfield microscope. Images are captured at rates between 200 and 2000 frames per second, and morphological changes in the cells are tracked using a software algorithm. The applied stress within the microfluidic device is accurately calibrated using agarose gel particles of known properties and then used to calculate cell mechanical properties (time-dependent strain, critical strain, creep time, and transit time).
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS:
- Mechanical measurements of single cells
- Mechanotyping of cells
- Detection of diseases in which the cell undergoes a mechanical change
- Evaluation of disease treatment efficacy in vitro
ADVANTAGES:
- Measures 103 cells/min
- Single-cell measurements
- Calibrated to agarose gel particles of known properties
STATE OF DEVELOPMENT:
Successful measurement of cell mechanical properties using the developed microfluidic device. The method was validated by measuring human leukemia cells before and after treatment with cytoskeletal-perturbing drugs.