Development of a New, Chip-Based Method for Lipoprotein Analysis by Capillary Electrophoresis

Abstract

This paper describes the development of a new, chip-based assay for lipoproteins by capillary electrophoresis. The separation of low-density (LDL) and high-density (HDL) lipoproteins by capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) was first demonstrated in fused-silica capillaries with both UV absorption and laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detection. This separation was accomplished using tricine buffer with methylglucamine. Similar results were obtained in glass microdevices although with much shorter analysis times (< 40 sec) and higher resolution. To our knowledge, these results show the first separation and detection of lipoproteins in a microfluidic device. Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to characterize the surface roughness of the microfluidic channels directly.