A dielectrophoresis-based platform of cancerous cells capture using aptamer-functionalized gold nanoparticles in a microfluidic channel.

In this paper, a microfluidic chip for the manipulation and capture of cancer cells was introduce. In which, the combination of dielectrophoresis (DEP) and a binding method based on chemical interactions by using cell-specific aptamer was performed to enhance the capture strength and specificity. The device has been simply constructed from a straight-channel PDMS placed on a glass substrate that patterned electrode structures and a self-assembled monolayer (SAM) of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The target cells were transported to the manipulation area by flow and attracted down to the region between the electrodes under the influence of positive dielectrophoresis force (pDEP). This approach facilitated subsequent selective capture by the modified aptamers on the AuNPs. The distribution of the electric field in the channel has also been simulated to clarify the DEP operation. As a result, the device has been shown to effectively capture target lung cancer cells with a concentration as low as cells/mL. The capture specificity in a sample of mixed cells is up to 80.4%. This technique has the potential to be applied to detection methods for many types of cancer. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.