An Integrated Microfluidic Platform for Label-Free Sorting and Functional Assessment of Neutrophils in Sepsis

作者：Xiao Yang, Xuexue Pu, Jun Zhao, Zhenyu Wang, Zhuoyi Zhu, Yong Liu, Guoqing Deng, Yutao Zha, Ming Fang, Fanglin Liu, Ling Zhu, Min Shao, Ke Yang · 发表于：Analytical Chemistry · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.1021/acs.analchem.5c02565 · 被引用次数：7 · 研究领域：Microfluidic and Bio-sensing Technologies、Sepsis Diagnosis and Treatment、Microfluidic and Capillary Electrophoresis Applications

Neutrophil motility dysfunction, including impaired deformation and chemotaxis, contributes to reduced bacterial clearance and uncontrolled infections in sepsis. Dynamic, quantitative assessment of these parameters holds promise for early diagnosis and prognosis, yet no integrated, label-free platform currently enables neutrophil sorting and functional analysis. We developed a microfluidic cell sorting chip (CS chip) capable of isolating white blood cells (WBCs) from ≤50 μL of whole blood with >80% purity and >90% viability. Combined with a cell deformation and chemotaxis detection chip (CD 2 chip), we established a fully integrated cell sorting and function detection platform (CSFD platform) for comprehensive motility function evaluation within 30 min. The CSFD platform showed excellent reproducibility, with no significant differences in deformation time (T D ) or migration time (T M ) across three independent devices or operators. Clinical testing revealed that neutrophils from patients with sepsis exhibited significantly impaired motility versus healthy controls (T D: 2.09 ± 0.32 min vs 1.42 ± 0.12 min; T M: 18.50 ± 2.48 min vs 13.20 ± 1.51 min; both p < 0.01). We further developed a novel neutrophil motility function index (NMF index), integrating T D and T M, which correlated strongly and negatively with clinical markers, including SOFA score, CRP, and PCT. These results highlighted the CSFD platform’s potential as a rapid, label-free, point-of-care tool for early diagno...