Detection and quantification of subtle changes in red blood cell density using a cell phone
Detection and quantification of subtle changes in red blood cell density using a cell phone
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DOI：
10.1039/c6lc00415f
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发表时间：
2016-01-01
期刊：
影响因子：
6.1
通讯作者：
Ghiran, Ionita C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Felton, Edward J.;Velasquez, Anthony;Ghiran, Ionita C.
磁悬浮已经成为一种能够区分不同密度细胞的技术。我们为此目的开发了一种磁悬浮系统，不仅可以区分不同的细胞类型，还可以区分同一类型细胞的密度差异。这个小型系统将细胞悬浮在放置在两个稀土磁铁之间的毛细管中的顺磁性介质中，细胞悬浮到一个完全由它们的密度决定的平衡位置。已知密度的均匀参考珠与细胞结合使用，作为量化其悬浮位置的手段。在一种实现中，悬浮细胞的图像是用显微镜获取的，但在这里，我们还介绍了一种基于手机的设备，它将磁铁、毛细管和镜头集成到一个紧凑的便携式单元中，通过手机的相机获取图像。为了证明磁悬浮在细胞密度分析中的有效性，我们使用人工改变密度的红细胞进行了悬浮实验，并悬浮了来自捐赠者的红细胞。我们观察到，我们可以区分贫血者的红细胞和健康者的红细胞。由于许多疾病状态的特征是细胞密度的变化，磁性细胞悬浮有望成为识别和分析病理状态的有效工具。此外，基于移动电话的系统的低成本、便携性和易用性可能潜在地导致其在低资源环境中部署。
Magnetic levitation has emerged as a technique that offers the ability to differentiate between cells with different densities. We have developed a magnetic levitation system for this purpose that distinguishes not only different cell types but also density differences in cells of the same type. This small-scale system suspends cells in a paramagnetic medium in a capillary placed between two rare earth magnets, and cells levitate to an equilibrium position determined solely by their density. Uniform reference beads of known density are used in conjunction with the cells as a means to quantify their levitation positions. In one implementation images of the levitating cells are acquired with a microscope, but here we also introduce a cell phone-based device that integrates the magnets, capillary, and a lens into a compact and portable unit that acquires images with the phone's camera. To demonstrate the effectiveness of magnetic levitation in cell density analysis we carried out levitation experiments using red blood cells with artificially altered densities, and also levitated those from donors. We observed that we can distinguish red blood cells of an anemic donor from those that are healthy. Since a plethora of disease states are characterized by changes in cell density magnetic cell levitation promises to be an effective tool in identifying and analyzing pathologic states. Furthermore, the low cost, portability, and ease of use of the cell phone-based system may potentially lead to its deployment in low-resource environments.