Understanding
Thread Properties for Red Blood Cell
Antigen Assays: Weak ABO Blood Typing
- Publication date
- Publisher
Abstract
“Thread-based
microfluidics” research has so far
focused on utilizing and manipulating the wicking properties of threads
to form controllable microfluidic channels. In this study we aim to
understand the separation properties of threads, which are important
to their microfluidic detection applications for blood analysis. Confocal
microscopy was utilized to investigate the effect of the microscale
surface morphologies of fibers on the thread’s separation efficiency
of red blood cells. We demonstrated the remarkably different separation
properties of threads made using silk and cotton fibers. Thread separation
properties dominate the clarity of blood typing assays of the ABO
groups and some of their weak subgroups (A<sub><i>x</i></sub> and A<sub>3</sub>). The microfluidic thread-based analytical devices (μTADs) designed in this work were used to accurately type different blood samples, including
89 normal ABO and 6 weak A subgroups. By selecting thread with the
right surface morphology, we were able to build μTADs capable
of providing rapid and accurate typing of the weak blood groups with
high clarity