Microdevice for Plasma Separation and in Vitro Quantification of Plasma Proteins
Conference
Thomas, T, Mishra, N, Agrawal, A. (2024). Microdevice for Plasma Separation and in Vitro Quantification of Plasma Proteins
. 735-744. 10.1007/978-981-99-7177-0_61
Thomas, T, Mishra, N, Agrawal, A. (2024). Microdevice for Plasma Separation and in Vitro Quantification of Plasma Proteins
. 735-744. 10.1007/978-981-99-7177-0_61
Recent advances in engineering have demonstrated the use of microfluidic devices as a platform for bioanalytical applications. Over the last few decades, microdevices for blood plasma separation are globally recognized due to their numerous benefits as compared to conventional techniques. One of the recently reported work from our research group has successfully demonstrated a simple and efficient passive microfluidic device capable of plasma separation from the whole blood. The design utilized bifurcated microfluidic channel dimensions of hundred microns for separating plasma with almost 100% separation efficiency. In the present research, we report blood plasma separation using this microfluidic chip and in vitro quantification of albumin (plasma protein) using colorimetric techniques. Undiluted blood (hematocrit up to 45%) at a flow rate of 0.3–0.6 ml/min was used for performing experiments. The separated plasma was further utilized for the quantification of albumin. Albumin present in the plasma binds with a reagent Bromocresol green (BCG) to form a blue-green colored complex (Albumin-BCG). The intensity of the resultant color formed after mixing is proportional to the concentration of albumin. The absorbance of the colored complex at 628 nm was measured using a spectrophotometer for quantitative analysis of albumin. The concentration of albumin obtained from microfluidic-separated plasma was compared with that of albumin detected from centrifuged plasma. The comparative study shows that the results are within the reasonable limits of agreement (error of ± 3%). The potential outcomes of this research build confidence toward the design and development of microfluidic plasma separation and detection devices at large.
