Continuous Cell Lysis Devices Using Optically-Induced Electric Field

This paper presents a new integrated microfluidic device capable of counting and continuously lysing cells by using hydrodynamic forces and optically-induced electric field. First, the cells were focused in the central stream using hydrodynamic sheath flows. Then the focused cells passed through the buried optical fibers such that the number of cells can be counted optically. For 13-μm lung cancer cells, a total of 97 cells were counted without any missed. The counting accuracy can be as high as 100%. After counting, cells were continuously disrupted using the optically-induced electric field. At an applied voltage of 20 Vpp with a frequency of 30 kHz, the lysis rate can be high as 100% when the length of illuminated light was 150 μm. The developed chip is therefore promising for intercellular constituent analysis and other cell-based studies.