Abstract
The present work describes a novel microfluidic free-flow electrophoresis device developed by applying three-dimensional (3D) printing technology to rapid prototype a low-cost chip for micro- and nanoparticle collection and analysis. Accurate reproducibility of the device design and the integration of the inlet and outlet ports with the proper tube interconnection was achieved by the additive manufacturing process. Test prints were performed to compare the glossy and the matte type of surface finish. Analyzing the surface topography of the 3D printed device, we demonstrated how the best reproducibility was obtained with the glossy device showing a 5% accuracy. The performance of the device was demonstrated by a free-flow zone electrophoresis application on micro- and nanoparticles with different dimensions, charge surfaces and fluorescent dyes by applying different separation voltages up to 55 V. Dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements and ultraviolet−visible spectroscopy (UV−Vis) analysis were performed on particles collected at the outlets. The percentage of particles observed at each outlet was determined in order to demonstrate the capability of the micro free-flow electrophoresis (µFFE) device to work properly in dependence of the applied electric field. In conclusion, we rapid prototyped a microfluidic device by 3D printing, which ensured micro- and nanoparticle deviation and concentration in a reduced operation volume and hence suitable for biomedical as well as pharmaceutical applications.
Highlights
Micro- and nanoparticles (M/NPs) represent a consolidated instrument in micro nanomaterials engineering for a widespread number of applications that range from drug carriers [1,2,3] to cosmetics development [4] as well as from disease therapy [5,6] to chemical analysis [7]
A valuable approach for the development and fabrication of microfluidic and LOC devices has been found in 3D printing [17,18,19] and some examples demonstrate their successful employment in the separation and analysis of M/NPs [20,21]
When operating at the microscale, acquiring several well-known advantages related to the scaling down of the dimensions, the microfluidic approach allows for the implementation of correspondingly scaled micro free-flow electrophoresis [24]
Summary
Micro- and nanoparticles (M/NPs) represent a consolidated instrument in micro nanomaterials engineering for a widespread number of applications that range from drug carriers [1,2,3] to cosmetics development [4] as well as from disease therapy [5,6] to chemical analysis [7]. The achieved results are a preliminary and encouraging starting point for the final aim of concentration and characterization of a wide variety of species and in particular for the study of exosomes (EXs), which are nanosized lipid vesicles secreted naturally in the extracellular environment by any type of cell. They play a pivotal role in intercellular communication, where they take as cargo DNA, mRNA, miRNA, lipids and short-chain peptides from one cell to another [30,31,32,33]. Proof of concept experiments were successfully carried on biovesicles, namely exosomes from biological samples, and the preliminary results were analyzed and discussed
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