Embedded pillar microstructures are an efficient approach for controlling and sculpting shear flow in a microchannel but have not yet demonstrated to be effective for deformability-based cell separation and sorting. Although simple pillar configurations (lattice, line sequence) work well for size-based separation of rigid particles, these have a low separation efficiency for circulating cells. The objective of this study is to optimize sequenced microstructures for separation of deformable cells. This is achieved by numerical analysis of pairwise cell migration in a microchannel with multiple pillars, where size, longitudinal spacing, and lateral location as well as the cell elasticity and size vary. This study reveals two basic pillar configurations optimized for deformability-based separation: “duplet” that consists of two closely spaced pillars positioned far below the centerline and above the centerline halfway to the wall; and “triplet” composed of three widely spaced pillars located below, above and at the centerline, respectively. The duplet configuration is well suited for deformable cell separation in short channels, whereas the triplet or a combination of duplets and triplets provides even better separation in long channels. These optimized pillar microstructures can dramatically improve microfluidic methods for sorting and isolation of blood and rare circulating tumor cells.

中文翻译：

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具有顺序支柱的微通道中可变形细胞分离的建模

嵌入的柱状微结构是控制和雕刻微通道中剪切流的有效方法，但尚未证明对基于变形能力的细胞分离和分选有效。尽管简单的柱子配置（晶格、线序）对于刚性颗粒的基于尺寸的分离效果很好，但它们对于循环细胞的分离效率较低。本研究的目的是优化用于分离可变形细胞的有序微结构。这是通过对具有多个支柱的微通道中成对细胞迁移的数值分析来实现的，其中大小、纵向间距和横向位置以及细胞弹性和大小各不相同。该研究揭示了为基于可变形性的分离而优化的两种基本支柱配置：由位于中心线下方和中心线上方一半距离墙壁的两个紧密间隔的柱子组成的“双联体”；和“三联体”由分别位于中心线下方、上方和中心线处的三个间隔很大的柱子组成。双胞胎配置非常适合短通道中的可变形细胞分离，而三胞胎或双胞胎和三胞胎的组合在长通道中提供更好的分离。这些优化的柱状微结构可以显着改善用于分选和分离血液和稀有循环肿瘤细胞的微流体方法。双胞胎配置非常适合短通道中的可变形细胞分离，而三胞胎或双胞胎和三胞胎的组合在长通道中提供更好的分离。这些优化的柱状微结构可以显着改善用于分选和分离血液和稀有循环肿瘤细胞的微流体方法。双胞胎配置非常适合短通道中的可变形细胞分离，而三胞胎或双胞胎和三胞胎的组合在长通道中提供更好的分离。这些优化的柱状微结构可以显着改善用于分选和分离血液和稀有循环肿瘤细胞的微流体方法。