Review of Microfluidic Methods for Cellular Lysis

Abstract

Cell lysis is a process in which the outer cell membrane is broken to release intracellular constituents in a way that important information about the DNA or RNA of an organism can be obtained. This article is a thorough review of reported methods for the achievement of effective cellular boundaries disintegration, together with their technological peculiarities and instrumental requirements. The different approaches are summarized in six categories: chemical, mechanical, electrical methods, thermal, laser, and other lysis methods. Based on the results derived from each of the investigated reports, we outline the advantages and disadvantages of those techniques. Although the choice of a suitable method is highly dependent on the particular requirements of the specific scientific problem, we conclude with a concise table where the benefits of every approach are compared, based on criteria such as cost, efficiency, and difficulty.

Digital E. coli Counter: A Microfluidics and Computer Vision-Based DNAzyme Method for the Isolation and Specific Detection of E. coli from Water Samples

“…Typically, lysozyme is used as a bacterial cell lysis agent in combination with different microfluidic devices [ 29 ]. Figure 2 b–d shows the use of lysozyme in different buffer systems, along with the DNAzyme mixture.…”

Algorithm Execution Time and Accuracy of NTC Thermistor-Based Temperature Measurements in Time-Critical Applications

“…A table of actual measured data R(T) provided by the manufacturer is initially subjected to indexation, forming an input array T(i) (Figure 5). Using the relation (8), an extra column with corresponding voltage equivalents U T (i) is added.…”

“…A table of actual measured data R(T) provided by the manufacturer is initially subjected to indexation, forming an input array T(i) (Figure 5). Using the relation (8), an extra column with corresponding voltage equivalents UT(i) is added. However, since the input data are given at discrete temperatures, most commonly in 5 °C intervals, and the microcontroller memory space is also limited, intermediate values However, since the input data are given at discrete temperatures, most commonly in 5 • C intervals, and the microcontroller memory space is also limited, intermediate values (T meas ) must be calculated by linear interpolation.…”

“…Voltage and current measurements in electronic devices together with inventive circuit topologies can prevent severe malfunction, resulting in fault-tolerant devices that can still operate under a shortor open-circuit switch failure [2][3][4]. The case is similar regarding temperature measurements: they are not limited only to applications where the temperature of a technological process is monitored or controlled, as, for instance, in material science and mechanics [5], bioelectrochemistry and biomedical engineering [6,7] or microfluidics [8,9], to name just a few. Temperature measurements are also used-often in conjunction with voltage and current measurements-to monitor key components of the device in order to increase the operational safety and reliability of the device in general.…”

Hand-Powered Inertial Microfluidic Syringe-Tip Centrifuge

“…As a novel approach to precisely control and manipulate cells and fluids in the microscale space, microfluidics provides new insights for on-site sample preparation owing to the advantages of miniaturization, a low device cost, small-sample consumption, and high integration [ 13 , 14 ]. To date, various novel microfluidic devices have been developed to realize separation [ 15 , 16 ], ordering [ 17 , 18 ], concentration [ 19 , 20 ], trapping [ 21 ], enrichment [ 22 ], filtration [ 23 , 24 ], and lysis [ 25 , 26 ] of cells on a single chip. In addition to the diversified application functions, continuous efforts have been made toward the development of simple, low-cost, and portable microfluidic devices for achieving effective sample preparation in resource-constrained environments at remote sites.…”