Separation Of Blood Components Research Articles

In-vitro blood purification using tiny pinch holographic optical tweezers based on deep learning

In-vitro blood purification is essential to a wide range of medical treatments, requiring fine-grained analysis and precise separation of blood components. Despite existing methods that can extract specific components from blood by size or by magnetism, there is not yet a general approach to efficiently filter blood components on demand. In this work, we introduce the first programmable non-contact blood purification system for accurate blood component detection and extraction. To accurately identify different cells and artificial particles in the blood, we collected and annotated a new blood component object detection dataset and trained a collection of deep-learning-based object detectors upon it. To precisely capture and extract desired blood components, we fabricated a microfluidic chip and set up a customized holographic optical tweezer to trap and move cells/particles in the blood. Empirically, we demonstrate that our proposed system can perform real-time blood fractionation with high precision reaching up to 96.89%, as well as high efficiency. Its scalability and flexibility open new research directions in blood treatment.

Tunable viscoelastic size-based particle separation in straight microchannels with triangular cross-sections

In recent years, viscoelastic particle manipulation within microfluidic systems has received much attention due to the ease with which micron-sized objects may be maneuvered and isolated on the basis of size. While several factors, including both fluid and particle properties, regulate the precise locations and trajectories of micron-sized species flowing along a microchannel, the role of channel cross-section shape is critical, since it directly influences the fluid velocity profile and thus the direction and magnitude of hydrodynamic forces. It is therefore surprising that this parameter has not been comprehensively investigated for cell-based separations, especially since most viscoelastic microfluidic systems are only able to efficiently sperate cells over limited size ranges. To address this shortcoming, we present a viscoelastic microfluidic system integrating a triangular cross-section microchannel, for efficient and tunable size-based separations of micron-sized species. We find that particle focusing patterns can be controlled by simple variation of volumetric flow rates, which allows for the efficient separation of particles and cells of variable size. To showcase the efficacy of the approach, we present a size-based separation of various blood components, including white blood cells, platelets, and rare cells. By quantifying the number of particles collected at the outlets, we achieve recovery efficiencies of over 98%.

Blood component separation in straight microfluidic channels.

Separation of blood components is required in many diagnostic applications and blood processes. In laboratories, blood is usually fractionated by manual operation involving a bulk centrifugation equipment, which significantly increases logistic burden. Blood sample processing in the field and resource-limited settings cannot be readily implemented without the use of microfluidic technology. In this study, we developed a small footprint, rapid, and passive microfluidic channel device that relied on margination and inertial focusing effects for blood component separation. No blood dilution, lysis, or labeling step was needed as to preserve sample integrity. One main innovation of this work was the insertion of fluidic restrictors at outlet ports to divert the separation interface into designated outlet channels. Thus, separation efficiency was significantly improved in comparison to previous works. We demonstrated different operation modes ranging from platelet or plasma extraction from human whole blood to platelet concentration from platelet-rich plasma through the manipulation of outlet port fluidic resistance. Using straight microfluidic channels with a high aspect ratio rectangular cross section, we demonstrated 95.4% platelet purity extracted from human whole blood. In plasma extraction, 99.9% RBC removal rate was achieved. We also demonstrated 2.6× concentration of platelet-rich plasma solution to produce platelet concentrate. The extraction efficiency and throughput rate are scalable with continuous and clog-free recirculation operation, in contrast to other blood fractionation approaches using filtration membranes or affinity-based purification methods. Our microfluidic blood separation method is highly tunable and versatile, and easy to be integrated into multi-step blood processing and advanced sample preparation workflows.

Microfluidic Label‐Free Hydrodynamic Separation of Blood Cells: Recent Developments and Future Perspectives

AbstractThe biophysical characteristics and counts of blood cells provide useful information regarding pathological conditions. Therefore, the separation of blood components is a crucial task in biology, clinical diagnosis, therapeutics, and personalized medicine. Recently, microfluidics has gained significant interest as an effective technology for separating target cells from heterogeneous cell populations. Within cellular‐scale microchannels, cells of interest are separated based on intrinsic properties, such as size, shape, and deformability, followed by further downstream or off‐chip analysis. In this review, microfluidic‐based hydrodynamic cell‐separation technologies used in label‐free approaches by categorizing them according to their key working principles are discussed: i) flow fractionation, ii) deterministic lateral displacement, iii) hydrophoresis, iv) inertial migration, and v) microfiltration. An overview of the major separation mechanisms is provided, and the relative performances and features of these technologies are thoroughly discussed. In addition, future perspectives regarding microfluidic system commercialization and standardization are briefly provided for their widespread use and applications.

Efeitos de raça, idade e gênero sobre o plasma rico em plaquetas em equinos e correlação da contagem plaquetária com seu aspecto físico

ABSTRACT Platelet rich plasma samples from 50 healthy horses of five different breeds (Thoroughbreds - TB, Brazilian Criollo Horses - BCH, Brazilian Sport Horses - BSH, Miniature Horses - MH and Crossbred Horses - CB), were investigated as to breed, age, and gender effect for platelet concentration. Moreover, a score for physical analysis was established to correlate PRP physical aspect with platelet count. Platelet count was performed by an automatic hematology analyzer and by manual count. PRP physical analysis was based on color, aspect, and capacity to separate blood components. MH showed significant higher platelet concentration than BSH (p<0.05), while the other breed comparisons showed no significant difference. There was no significant difference for gender but there was a weak correlation of age with PRP platelet concentrations (rs = -0.24). Most of the PRP presented yellow color, the separation of blood components showed no correlation, but the aspect showed a moderate correlation (rs = 0.30) with platelet count. Results suggest that PRP platelet concentration can be influenced by intrinsic factors such as breed. Additionally, the analysis of PRP aspect can help to evaluate the quality of the product when there is no access to platelet counts.

Swiss Medical Devices for Autologous Regenerative Medicine: From Innovation to Clinical Validation

Regenerative medicine, based on the use of autologous tissues and embryonic, stem or differentiated cells, is gaining growing interest. However, their preparation, in a manner compliant with good practices and health regulations, is a technical challenge. The aim of this manuscript is to present the design of reliable CE marked medical devices for the preparation of standardized platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and other autologous biologics intended for therapeutic uses. There are numerous PRP isolation processes. Depending on the methodology used, PRP composition varies greatly in terms of platelet concentration, platelet quality, and level of contamination with red and white blood cells. This variability in PRP composition might affect the clinical outcomes. The devices presented here are based on a specific technology, patented all over the world, that allows the precise separation of blood components as a function of their density using thixotropic separator gels in closed systems. This allows the preparation, in an automated manner, of leukocyte poor PRP with a standardized composition. Production of different forms of PRP is a clinical asset to suit various therapeutic needs. Therefore, we are offering solutions to prepare PRP either in liquid or gel form, and PRP combined with hyaluronic acid. These biologics have been successfully used in many different therapeutic domains, resulting in more than 150 published clinical studies. We also developed the CuteCell technology platform for cell culture expansion for further autologous cell therapies. This technology enables the safe and rapid in vitro expansion of cells intended for therapeutic use in good manufacturing practices (GMP) and autologous conditions, using blood-derived products as culture media supplementation. We summarize in this article our 20 years’ experience of research and development for the design of PRP devices and, more recently, for PRP combined with hyaluronic acid.

Geometry effect in multi-step crossflow microfluidic devices for red blood cells separation and deformability assessment

The efficient separation of blood components using microfluidic systems can help to improve the detection and diagnosis of several diseases, such as malaria and diabetes. Therefore, a novel multi-step microfluidic device, based on passive crossflow filters was developed. Three different designs were proposed, fabricated and tested in order to evaluate the most suitable geometry to perform, simultaneously, blood cells separation and cell deformability measurements. All the proposed geometries include a main channel and three sequential separation steps, all comprised of symmetrical crossflow filters, with multiple rows of pillars, to reduce the amount of red blood cells (RBCs) flowing to the outlets of the microfluidic device (MD). Sets of hyperbolic constrictions located at the outlets allow the assessment of cells deformability. Based on the proposed geometries, the three correspondent MD were evaluated and compared, by measuring the RBCs velocities, the cell-free layer (CFL) effect through the microchannels and by quantifying the amount of RBCs at the outlets. The results suggest that the proposed MD 3 configuration was the most effective one for the desired application, due to the formation of a wider CFL. As a result, a minor amount of RBCs flow through the hyperbolic contraction at the third separation level of the device. Nevertheless, for all the proposed geometries, the existence of three separation levels shows that it is possible to achieve a highly efficient cell separation. If needed, such microdevices have the potential for further improvements by increasing the number of separation levels, aiming the total separation of blood cells from plasma.

Joint Blind Deconvolution and Robust Principal Component Analysis for Blood Flow Estimation in Medical Ultrasound Imaging

This article addresses the problem of high-resolution Doppler blood flow estimation from an ultrafast sequence of ultrasound images. Formulating the separation of clutter and blood components as an inverse problem has been shown in the literature to be a good alternative to spatio-temporal singular value decomposition (SVD)-based clutter filtering. In particular, a deconvolution step has recently been embedded in such a problem to mitigate the influence of the point spread function (PSF) of the imaging system. Deconvolution was shown in this context to improve the accuracy of the blood flow reconstruction. However, the PSF needs to be measured experimentally, and measuring it requires nontrivial experimental setups. To overcome this limitation, we propose herein a blind deconvolution method able to estimate both the blood component and the PSF from Doppler data. Numerical experiments conducted on simulated and in vivo data demonstrate qualitatively and quantitatively the effectiveness of the proposed approach in comparison with the previous method based on experimentally measured PSF and two other state-of-the-art approaches.

A proposal for sectorial organizing and quality standards in therapeutic apheresis: The therapeutic apheresis unit (TAU) standards.

Therapeutic apheresis (TA) includes a wide range of therapeutic procedures based on the separation of blood components and the collection of cells with therapeutic activity or the removal of unwanted plasma or cellular components involved in the etiology of various hematologic, renal, neurological, and medical diseases. The complexity of these interventions requires an organizing model to assure a proper clinical environment, technology, quality requirements, and personnel as well as an active system for outcome monitoring for safety and efficacy. Finally, a structured organizing model may favor the efficiency of the TA unit and economic affordability. Here, we describe the more relevant characteristics of a model of TA standards, named TA unit (TAU) standards, that may help to establish a quality program in units working in the field of TA (shown as supplementary material and available at http://www.ifeit.org/pdf/TAU_Standards_3.0.pdf.

The role of centrifugation process in the preparation of therapeutic blood concentrates: Standardization of the protocols to improve reproducibility

Investigations of endogenous blood-derived growth factors have increased in the past two decades. The initial protocols for blood concentrates, such as platelet-rich-plasma, utilized anticoagulants followed by bovine thrombin to catalyze fibrin polymerization. Subsequently, platelet-rich-fibrin (PRF) protocol was developed to eliminate anticoagulants and thrombin. The PRF production was described in a vertical rotor centrifuge with an angle of ~33°. Many commercial enterprises have attempted to replicate this protocol with a multitude of different centrifuges. These attempts have utilized revolutions per minute (RPM) to develop their protocol to generate PRF. However, RPM is a variable parameter, as it depends on the design and radius of the centrifuge. The separation of blood components is highly dependent on the relative centrifugal force (RCF) generated, which is based on the applied centrifugal force, expressed as multiples of earth's gravitation (g) field. RCF is a function of the acceleration due to the gravity of the earth, g = 9.81 m/s2 RCF, not RPM, is the key factor for the sedimentation of the cells and proteins within blood concentrates. RCF is determined using the maximum centrifuge radius for calculation. The initial PRF was generated by applying an RCF of 700 ×g. Accordingly, so far, a large number of studies existing about PRF are not comparable, as they were technically prepared with different RCFs. In addition, due to the nonstandardized measurement methods, in some published studies, incorrect RCF values are published as the authors did not know how to calculate the RCF correctly. This is the case for a widespread blood concentrate called leukocyte-PRF, which is commercially available. Recently, we introduced the low-speed centrifugation concept (LSCC) for the production for solid and liquid PRF matrices. This concept is based on the above-mentioned initial PRF protocols, which represents a relatively high RCF. It shows that a systematic reduction of 700 ×g to 44 ×g can significantly increase the cells and growth factors within the same blood concentrates. The LSCC concept was established initially for a fixed rotor centrifuge with a radius of ~110 mm. The present narrative review highlights the necessity of standardization in the generation of blood concentrates, which utilizes RCF, rather than commercial protocols.

PHYSICS IN MEDICINE AND ECONOMY OF CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY

This paper describes the main methods of separating blood into components. The most common methods used in medicinal practice include centrifugation and filtration. Currently, there has been a lot of research on the application of ultrasound as the new, innovative method of separation of blood components. Ultrasound use is a theoretically elaborated method and experimental research is in process with the aim of its implementation in medical diagnostics. Contemporary societies are aware of the importance of findings of physics as well as of the fact that our everyday life is strongly connected to physics and to technical devices that have been created on the basis of its fundamental laws.

Immuno-biological Rationale for the Use of Platelet-rich Donor Plasma for the Regional Treatment of Wounds

There has recently been great interest in platelet growth factors. Universal mechanism of action, simplicity, low cost and maloinvazivnogo receiving expand their use in practical medicine. However, comorbidities and the technical difficulty of isolating platelets from autoplasma are the limiting factors for widespread adoption of the techniques in the daily work of doctors of most hospitals. The article listed the main drugs of platelets enriched plasma (pure platelet-rich plasma enriched with white blood cells and platelets blood plasma, pure platelet-enriched fibrin enriched with platelets, leukocytes and fibrin), the features, the conditions of their production and hardware by apheresis, and from the pool leykotrieny layers. The marked advantages of automatic separation of blood components, which minimizes the human factor in (avoiding manual labor), allows to distinguish the platelets of high quality with little loss of hemoglobin and plasma, ensures quick and accurate obtaining of necessary blood components and the shelf life of platelets, the importance of timely delivery. The authors considered immune and biological aspects of the use of donor platelet concentrate. Describes methods to reduce the risks of transmission of hemotransmissive infections, alloimmune effects, bacterial contamination of wounds with local application of platelet concentrate. Comparative evaluation of the economic component of the latest hardware by apheresis and from the pool leykotrieny layers. The use of platelet-rich donor plasma for the stimulation of reparative processes in the healing of nonhealing wounds is due to equivalent clinical effectiveness of the use of donor platelet concentrate and platelet-rich autoplasma. Convenience of centralized procurement allows greater use of platelet drugs in many hospitals.

Biofluid pretreatment using gradient insulator-based dielectrophoresis: separating cells from biomarkers.

Blood is one of the most important biofluids used for clinical diagnostics. Cells and proteins in the blood can provide a rich source of information for the evaluation of human health. Efficient separation of blood components is a necessary process in order to minimize the interference of unwanted components during sensing, separation, and detection. In this paper, an insulator-based gradient dielectrophoretic device has been applied to separate red blood cells from model protein biomarkers for myocardial infarction in buffer. Within one min, red blood cells are largely depleted regardless of the minimum adherence on the channel wall. Considering the adhered red blood cells will not be transported further, a purified protein solution can be delivered for potential downstream processing or detection. Graphical Abstract ᅟ.

The Separation of Blood Components Using Standing Surface Acoustic Waves (SSAWs) Microfluidic Devices: Analysis and Simulation.

The separation of blood components (WBCs, RBCs, and platelets) is important for medical applications. Recently, standing surface acoustic wave (SSAW) microfluidic devices are used for the separation of particles. In this paper, the design analysis of SSAW microfluidics is presented. Also, the analysis of SSAW force with Rayleigh angle effect and its attenuation in liquid-loaded substrate, viscous drag force, hydrodynamic force, and diffusion force are explained and analyzed. The analyses are provided for selecting the piezoelectric material, width of the main microchannel, working area of SAW, wavelength, minimum input power required for the separation process, and widths of outlet collecting microchannels. The design analysis of SSAW microfluidics is provided for determining the minimum input power required for the separation process with appropriated the displacement contrast of the particles.The analyses are applied for simulation the separation of blood components. The piezoelectric material, width of the main microchannel, working area of SAW, wavelength, and minimum input power required for the separation process are selected as LiNbO3, 120 μm, 1.08 mm2, 300 μm, 371 mW. The results are compared to other published results. The results of these simulations achieve minimum power consumption, less complicated setup, and high collecting efficiency. All simulation programs are built by MATLAB.

Simulation and experimental determination of the online separation of blood components with the help of microfluidic cascading spirals.

Microfluidic spirals were used to successfully separate rare solid components from unpretreated human whole blood samples. The measured separation ratio of the spirals is the factor by which the concentration of the rare component is increased due to the Dean effect present in a flow profile in a curved duct. Different rates of dilution of the blood samples with a phosphate-buffered solution were investigated. The diameters of the spherical particles to separate ranged from 2 μm to 18 μm. It was found that diluting the blood to 20% is optimal leading to a separation ratio up to 1.97. Using two spirals continuously placed in a row led to an increase in separation efficacy in samples consisting of phosphate-buffered solution only from 1.86 to 3.79. Numerical investigations were carried out to display the flow profiles of Newtonian water samples and the shear-thinning blood samples in the cross-section of the experimentally handled channels. A macroscopic difference in velocity between the two rheologically different fluids could not be found. The macroscopic Dean flow is equally present and useful to help particles migrate to certain equilibrium positions in blood as well as lower viscous Newtonian fluids. The investigations highlight the potential for using highly concentrated, very heterogeneous, and non-Newtonian fluidic systems in known microsystems for screening applications.

A SIMPLE INSTRUMENTATION SYSTEM FOR SEPARATION OF WHOLE BLOOD COMPONENTS USING CENTRIFUGE TECHNIQUE AND MEASUREMENT OF RBC

Development of tiny portable, cost effective simple Instrumentation embedded system will help in medical field for the treatment of adult patients. The need of embedded system is more common now days in medical field. Most of the annual medical check-ups involve the physician ordering only routine blood tests. With blood test results in hand, one can catch critical changes in the body before they manifest as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, or worse. According to recent surveys, it is very essential for adults to checkup blood to know the hemoglobin, platelets, plasma contents etc. to avoid risks in life. Even rural common people need to come for cities to checkup blood. This work mainly focuses on design of such low cost embedded solution for the measurement of blood components especially for adults. The people may get rough idea about their health using this low cost device. We have used centrifuge technique in our system which works on the principle of sedimentation for the separation of blood components. The low power ARM7TDMI LPC2148 microcontroller is used in our system. The cost of the system is affordable even for common people

Integrated sorting and detection of circulating tumor cells in blood using microfluidic cell sorting and surface plasmon resonance

ABSTRACTMetastatic tumors can spread via release of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) into the bloodstream. Early detection of these CTCs could greatly improve cancer survival rates by enabling diagnosis, and therefore treatment, before secondary tumors arise. However, tumor cells are typically present in very low concentrations, making them difficult to detect in a fluid dominated by red blood cells (RBCs), leukocytes and serum proteins. Separation of CTCs from blood plasma, leukocytes and RBCs is predicted to improve cell capture via antibody-based methods and reduce interference in capture/detection assays. Previously, members of our team have demonstrated microfluidic, size-based separation of blood components, but have yet to integrate this sorting capability with an affinity-based detection technology. To this end, we have developed a microfluidic platform to separate CTCs from mouse blood and detect them using grating coupled surface plasmon resonance (GCSPR). We have implemented a size-based sorting array, which separates objects based upon their diameter, within a microfluidic channel. Separation of beads (2 μm, 6 μm, 10 μm) has been demonstrated, as well as separation of white blood cells and CTCs from blood. The resulting stream of large blood cells (including CTCs) is then directed onto an integrated SPR grating for affinity based capture and detection. Using GCSPR vs. conventional SPR enables detection of multiple cell types across the grating in an array-based format. We have demonstrated differential capture and detection of cells on GCSPR gratings following size-based separation of blood. Using capture antibodies specific to unique CTC surface proteins enables identification of cell types and may provide prognostic capability, beyond the diagnostic capacity of this system.

Red Blood Cells Preserve Platelet Function and Coagulation From The Effects Of Acidemia

Despite a large body of literature regarding Acute Coagulopathy of Trauma and Massive Transfusion, there is little consensus on the appropriate diagnostic approach to establish the cause of associated uncontrolled bleeding. Thromboelastography (TEG) is widely used to characterize trauma-associated bleeding. However, the use of whole blood in this assay may obscure important changes in blood component hemostatic function. Blood varies in hematocrit from a typical level of 40% in large vessels to 10% in capillaries. Patients with persistent bleeding may present with prolonged prothrombin time (PT)/activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) measured in plasma, but unremarkable TEG tracings measured in whole blood drawn from a large vein. As one of the only ubiquitously accepted causes of a bleeding coagulopathy associated with trauma, acidemia was modeled in TEG to investigate 1) the differential coagulopathy detection obtained by separation of blood components before TEG testing, 2) the range of acidemia effects at various levels of the vascular tree through variable hematocrit testing, and 3) effects of replacing RBCs with plasma versus normal saline. Male donor blood (n=5) was drawn into citrate and the contact pathway was immediately further inhibited with corn trypsin inhibitor. TEG cups were preloaded with appropriate volumes of [morpholino]ethanesulfonic acid buffered saline (MBS) for pH 7.4, pH 7.1, pH 6.8 and were recalcified (15mM). R-time parameters were not significantly different when whole blood (WB) or red blood cells combined with platelet poor plasma (RBC/PPP) were activated to clot with tissue factor (1:5000 dilution induced a normal 4 minute clot time) in the simulated acidemia, whereas platelet poor plasma (PPP) showed a significant delay at pH 7.1 (p<0.0001) and pH 6.8 (p<0.0001) when compared to pH 7.4. Shear Elastic Modulus Strength showed only significant losses in platelet rich plasma (PRP: pH 7.4 vs pH 7.1; p=0.013, pH 7.1 vs pH 6.8; p=0.015) but not WB, RBC/PPP, or PPP. Hematocrit levels were chosen to model typical changes from large to small vessels, in the presence of 200,000 platelets/microliter, where the volume of RBCs was replaced with plasma. Results indicate that zero hematocrit conditions result in a significant R-time delay (pH 7.4 vs pH 7.1; p=0.0306, pH 7.1 vs pH 6.8; p<0.0001) whereas no significant delays occur at 20%, 30%, and 40% hematocrit. Utilization of normal saline for RBC replacement did not alter any of the 20%, 30%, or 40% hematocrit R-time findings yet zero % hematocrit samples (pH 7.1; 12.9+/-1.64 minutes, pH 6.8; 34.98+/-4.03 minutes) were significantly delayed (p<0.0001) when compared to plasma replacement of RBC (pH 7.1; 8.22+/-0.70 minutes, pH 6.8;13.98+/-1.54 minutes). Subsequent biochemical evaluation of whole blood (n=5) activated to clot in conditions of acidemia (pH 7.4, pH 7.1, pH 6.8) showed no significant delay or reduced peak of thrombin generation, no significant difference in factor V activation or fibrinopeptide A cleavage. Data indicate that 1) separation of blood components allows a more sensitive parsing mechanism for TEG evaluation of coagulation in acidemia, 2) simulated capillary blood containing low hematocrit demonstrates the anti-coagulant effects of acidemia obscured in whole blood from large vessels with normal hematocrit, 3) resuscitation with normal saline may exacerbate microvascular bleeding in the acidemic patient, and 4) RBCs prevent delays in clot initiation and loss of platelet force generation in the presence of acidemia. This work provides a mechanism to explain the observation that increased hematocrit reduces microvascular bleeding. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

The Concentration and Separation Of Blood Components Using Acoustic Radiation Force

The concentration of whole blood has a wide spectrum of medical uses, especially in blood transfusions for patients suffering acute blood loss from trauma or surgery. However, current methods rely on centrifugation, which has a tendency to cause fragmentation and deformation of cells. Acoustic standing waves are considered to be a gentler means to concentrate blood cells, but generally suffer from flow rate limitations of >103fold, functioning only on the microscale. To address this issue, we have developed a novel ultrasound technology that works at the macroscale, enabling it to process flow rates that would typically be required to handle medically relevant volumes.In this study, we have applied the principles of acoustic radiation at the macroscale to re-concentrate 10X diluted porcine blood by trapping the blood cells within a standing wave, resulting in the clumping of cells and platelets, ultimately leading to enhanced gravitational settling. Complete blood counts were measured with a VetScan HM5 hematology analyzer. Using an acoustic force generated by power levels up to 25 Watts, no lysing was observed in any of the experiments. The inlet flow rate through the device was 16 ml/min, and the concentrate flow rate of the blood components was typically 1 ml/min. The transducer was a 2 MHz PZT-8 operating at 10 W, and it was oriented to create an acoustic standing wave perpendicular to the flow direction. Results indicate successful capture of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets with separation efficiencies in excess of 90% in a single pass. Furthermore, the blood components were all reconcentrated back to levels similar to those in whole blood.Subsequent experiments and conditions have allowed for the separation of blood components, suggesting that the future development of acoustic methods to perform blood re-concentration procedures such as erythropheresis, leukapheresis and plateletpheresis in a gentler manner than current methods holds great promise. With almost 15 million transfusions performed each year in the United States, this technology has the potential to make a significant impact on the medical community, particularly for treatment of critically ill patients. Additionally, the novel technology has also demonstrated performance in separating lipid particles from blood, thus indicating its utility for reducing the occurrence of lipid microemboli during re-transfusion of shed blood in cardiopulmonary bypass surgeries, which have been linked with post-operative neurocognitive complications. As a result, the novel acoustophoretic technology may become a general purpose platform for achieving separation in a variety of biomedical applications. Disclosures:Mealey:Flo Design Sonics: Employment. Lipkens:Flo Design Sonics: Equity Ownership.

Concentration of blood components by acoustic radiation force

We have recently reported on macro-scale separation of lipids from red blood cells (J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 133(5, Pt. 2), 3279). In this system, the acoustic radiation force is used to trap red blood cells and lipid particles in a standing wave. Subsequent clumping of red blood cells results in gravitational settling of the red blood cells. Similarly, coalescing of lipids results in rising of the lipids out of solution. We now report on more detailed measurements of the concentration and separation of various blood components, such as red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. Porcine blood was used in the experiments and diluted by a factor of ten in phosphate buffered saline. A VetScan HM5 hematology analyzer was used to do the blood count. Inlet flow rate through the device was 16 ml/min, the concentrate flow rate of the blood components was typically about 1 ml/min. The transducer was a 2 MHz PZT-8 operating at 10 W. No lysing was observed in any of the experiments. Results indicate successful capture of red blood cells and white blood cells with separation efficiencies in excess of 90% in a single pass. [Work supported by NSF PFI:BIC 1237723.]