(47a) Impact of Microfluidic Device Material on Cell Separation

Microfluidic devices are capable of performing a complete blood analysis in which the first step is the separation of white blood cells (WBCs) from red blood cells (RBCs). Due to the difference in the size of the WBCs and RBCs, this cell separation can be performed by size exclusion using cross-flow filtration in the microfluidic device. The properties of the materials used in fabrication of the microfluidic device, however, may affect the separation of the WBCs and RBCs. The current work is an evaluation of polymeric material on the performance of the microfluidic device. Microfluidic devices with 10 µm square pillars were successfully fabricated from polydimethylsiloxane, polystyrene, polymethylmethacrylate, and polycarbonate. Device characteristics, including polarity, surface roughness, porosity, feature dimensions, and cell separation efficiency are compared for the different materials. The efficiency of separating WBCs while discarding RBCs is evaluated using video microscopy of colored microspheres.