Numerical Study of a Centrifugal Platform for the Inertial Separation of Circulating Tumor Cells Using Contraction-Expansion Array Microchannels

Label-free inertial separation of the circulating tumor cells (CTCs) has attracted significant attention recently. The present study proposed a centrifugal platform for the inertial separation of the CTCs from the white blood cells. Particle trajectories of the contraction-expansion array (CEA) microchannels were analyzed by the finite element method. Four expansion geometries (i.e., circular, rectangular, trapezoidal, and triangular) were compared to explore their differences in separation possibilities. Different operational and geometrical parameters were investigated to achieve maximum separation efficiency. Results indicated that the trapezoidal CEA microchannel with ten expansions and a ۱۰۰ µm channel depth had the best separation performance at an angular velocity of ۱۰۰ rad/s. Reynolds number of ۴۷ was set as the optimum value to apply minimum shear stress on the CTCs leading to ۱۰۰% efficiency and ۹۵% purity. Furthermore, the proposed system was simulated for whole blood by considering the red blood cells.

کلیدواژه ها:

CEA microchannel ، centrifugal microfluidic system ، Lab-on-a-disk ، inertial microfluidic ، Numerical Simulation