TY - JOUR
T1 - Engineered membranes for residual cell trapping on microfluidic blood plasma separation systems. A comparison between porous and nanofibrous membranes
AU - Lopresti, Francesco
AU - Keraite, Ieva
AU - Ongaro, Alfredo Edoardo
AU - Howarth, Nicola Marie
AU - La Carrubba, Vincenzo
AU - Kersaudy-Kerhoas, Maïwenn
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding: M.K.K. acknowledges funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, EP/R00398X/1; F.L. is funded by the European Social Fund (ESF)—A.I.M: Attraction and International Mobility_ AIM1845825 – 1; CUP: B74I18000260001
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - Blood-based clinical diagnostics require challenging limit-of-detection for low abundance, circulating molecules in plasma. Micro-scale blood plasma separation (BPS) has achieved remarka-ble results in terms of plasma yield or purity, but rarely achieving both at the same time. Here, we proposed the first use of electrospun polylactic-acid (PLA) membranes as filters to remove residual cell population from continuous hydrodynamic-BPS devices. The membranes hydrophilicity was improved by adopting a wet chemistry approach via surface aminolysis as demonstrated through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Water Contact Angle analysis. The usability of PLA-membranes was assessed through degradation measurements at extreme pH values. Plasma purity and hemolysis were evaluated on plasma samples with residual red blood cell content (1, 3, 5% hematocrit) corresponding to output from existing hydrodynamic BPS systems. Commercially available membranes for BPS were used as benchmark. Results highlighted that the electrospun membranes are suitable for downstream residual cell removal from blood, permitting the collection of up to 2 mL of pure and low-hemolyzed plasma. Fluorometric DNA quantification revealed that electrospun membranes did not significantly affect the concentration of circulating DNA. PLA-based electrospun membranes can be combined with hydrodynamic BPS in order to achieve high volume plasma separation at over 99% plasma purity.
AB - Blood-based clinical diagnostics require challenging limit-of-detection for low abundance, circulating molecules in plasma. Micro-scale blood plasma separation (BPS) has achieved remarka-ble results in terms of plasma yield or purity, but rarely achieving both at the same time. Here, we proposed the first use of electrospun polylactic-acid (PLA) membranes as filters to remove residual cell population from continuous hydrodynamic-BPS devices. The membranes hydrophilicity was improved by adopting a wet chemistry approach via surface aminolysis as demonstrated through Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Water Contact Angle analysis. The usability of PLA-membranes was assessed through degradation measurements at extreme pH values. Plasma purity and hemolysis were evaluated on plasma samples with residual red blood cell content (1, 3, 5% hematocrit) corresponding to output from existing hydrodynamic BPS systems. Commercially available membranes for BPS were used as benchmark. Results highlighted that the electrospun membranes are suitable for downstream residual cell removal from blood, permitting the collection of up to 2 mL of pure and low-hemolyzed plasma. Fluorometric DNA quantification revealed that electrospun membranes did not significantly affect the concentration of circulating DNA. PLA-based electrospun membranes can be combined with hydrodynamic BPS in order to achieve high volume plasma separation at over 99% plasma purity.
KW - Biopolymers
KW - Blood-plasma separation
KW - Clinical applications
KW - Membranes
KW - Microfluidics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85114512691&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/membranes11090680
DO - 10.3390/membranes11090680
M3 - Article
C2 - 34564497
AN - SCOPUS:85114512691
SN - 2077-0375
VL - 11
JO - Membranes
JF - Membranes
IS - 9
M1 - 680
ER -