Device and method for measuring viscosity of unicellular cytoplasm

Abstract

The invention provides a device and a method for measuring the viscosity of unicellular cytoplasm. The device comprises: a micro-fluidic chip module, wherein the micro-fluidic chip module comprises aprimary compression channel for cells to be squeezed into and move along the primary compression channel and at least one side compression channel, one end of the side compression channel is vertically communicated with the primary compression channel to make the cells partially extend into the side compression channel when passing through the side compression channel; a pressure control module connected to the micro-fluidic chip module to provide a pressure for the movement of the cells along the primary compression channel and the extension into the side compression channel; an image acquisition module for collecting the image of the cells passing through an intersection position; and a data analyzing and processing module connected with the image acquisition module and used for processing the acquired image to obtain the extension length of the cells in the side compression channel and obtaining the viscosity of the cytoplasm through combining a unicellular intrinsic mechanical property model. The invention further provides the method for measuring the viscosity of the unicellular cytoplasm. The measured viscosity of the cytoplasm is independent of the size of the cells, and thehigh throughput measurement of the viscosity of the cytoplasm is achieved.

Description

technical field [0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of microfluidic technology, in particular to a device and method for measuring single-cell cytoplasmic viscosity. Background technique [0002] Cells are the basic structure and unit of living organisms. During the life activities of living organisms, they are constantly accompanied by cell division, differentiation and apoptosis. It can be said that the characteristics of cells directly or indirectly reflect the state of living organisms. Since the discovery of cells by the British scientist Robert Hooke in 1665, human research on cells has never stopped. Single-cell analysis has far-reaching significance for cell research. Studies in recent years have shown that homogeneity and heterogeneity exist between individual cells. Homogeneity often refers to the similarity between cells of the same type, and heterogeneity often refers to different types, There are even differences between the same type of cells....

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

The so-called photostretching (proposed by Dr. Guck in 2005) is the use of laser light to irradiate the cells in the microfluidic channel to deform them and obtain the mechanical properties of the cells. Due to the influence of the location and the size of the cell itself, it is impossible to obtain the mechanical property parameters that are not related to the size of the cell itself

Another method of electrostretching (proposed by Prof. Sun in 2011) is to use two opposite plates of unequal areas to generate an uneven electric field, and the uneven electric field makes the cells move to the plate with high electric field strength , due to the conservation of the electrostatic force, the cell will be static near the high electric field strength and produce tensile deformation. According to this deformation, the intrinsic mechanical characteristic parameter of the cell, that is, the Young's modulus of the cell, is obtained, but the throughput of this method is low, and the reported cell less than 10 in total

The method of fluid-induced stretching (proposed by Prof. Di Carlo in 2012) is to use the fluid to apply force to the cells in the microfluidic channel to make them deform, so as to obtain the mechanical characteristic parameters of the cells, but the detection results of this method are also the same. Influenced by the position of the cell within the microfluidic channel as well as the size of the cell itself

In 2014, my research group (Prof. Chen) proposed a method for measuring the mechanical properties of single cells based on compressed channels. Cell cytoplasmic viscosity not characterized

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