Label-free acoustophoretic enrichment of mononuclear cells from blood

Abstract

We are reporting an efficient, label-free and continuous separation of mononuclear cells (MNC), from blood using microchip acoustophoresis. In standard PBS buffer, MNCs and red blood cells (RBC) display overlapping acoustophoretic mobilities which compromise separation of these cell types from each other. In this paper we capitalize on the fact that MNC and RBC display different acoustophysical properties. By optimizing the buffer conditions and thereby changing the acoustic contrast factor, and hence the acoustophoretic mobility of the cells, a 2800-fold enrichment of MNCs vs. RBCs with MNC recoveries up to 88% was accomplished