Abstract
In this paper, we present a novel optical microfluidic cytometry scheme for label-free detection of cells that is based on the self-mixing interferometry (SMI) technique. This device enables simple, fast and accurate detection of the individual cell characteristics and efficient cell type classification. We also propose a novel parameter to classify the cell or particle size. Artificial polystyrene beads and human living cells were measured using this system, and the SMI signal properties were statistically evaluated. The capability of the proposed cytometer for cell type discrimination and size classification has been validated by the measurement results. Our study can provide a very simple technique for cell enumeration and classification without any extra devices such as high-speed camera, photomultiplier and spectrometer. Moreover, the fluorescence staining operation which is necessary in traditional flow cytometry methods is not required either in our system.
Highlights
With the development of microfluidic and optoelectronics techniques, flow cytometry (FC) has become a fundamental tool for the characterization and the analysis of cells or other micro-scale biological entities
When the individual micro particle or cell inside the channel flows through the laser beam volume, part of the scattered light re-enters the laser cavity
We investigated a series of detection rates using 5 μm polystyrene sphere (PS)
Summary
With the development of microfluidic and optoelectronics techniques, flow cytometry (FC) has become a fundamental tool for the characterization and the analysis of cells or other micro-scale biological entities. One major SMI-based micro particle characterization research aspect is particle size distribution estimation by analyzing the signal frequency power spectrum subjected to the dynamic scattering light from the particle population [20,21,22,23]. Another perspective is developing the device or data processing algorithm for particle flowing velocity spatial distribution profile via Doppler frequency spectrometer [24,25,26,27,28]. In order to investigate the reliability of our detection system, a series of experimental validations with both artificial beads and human living cells were performed and the results of a large number of individual particle/cell measurements are analyzed with a statistical approach
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