Continuous CTC separation through a DEP-based contraction-expansion inertial microfluidic channel.

The efficient isolation of viable and intact circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood is critical for the genetic analysis of cancer cells, prediction of cancer progression, development of drugs, and evaluation of therapeutic treatments. While conventional cell separation devices utilize the size difference between CTCs and other blood cells, they fail to separate CTCs from white blood cells (WBCs) due to significant size overlap. To overcome this issue, we present a novel approach that combines curved contraction-expansion (CE) channels with dielectrophoresis (DEP) and inertial microfluidics to isolate CTCs from WBCs regardless of size overlap. This label-free and continuous separation method utilizes dielectric properties and size variation of cells for the separation of CTCs from WBCs. The results demonstrate that the proposed hybrid microfluidic channel can effectively isolate A549 CTCs from WBCs regardless of their size with a throughput of 300 µL/min, achieving a high separation distance of 233.4 µm at an applied voltage of 50 Vp-p . The proposed method allows for the modification of cell migration characteristics by controlling the number of CE sections of the channel, applied voltage, applied frequency, and flow rate. With its unique features of a single-stage separation, simple design, and tunability, the proposed method provides a promising alternative to the existing label-free cell separation techniques and may have a wide range of applications in biomedicine.

Muscle cellularity, growth performance and growth-related gene expression of juvenile climbing perch Anabas testudineus in response to different eggs incubation temperature.

Although indigenous climbing perch (Anabas testudineusis) is a highly valuable species, slow growth pattern during the culture period impeding its commercial success in aquaculture. In many fish species, it has been demonstrated that incubation temperature of eggs influenced the muscle development and growth rates, which persisted throughout the subsequent larval and juvenile phases. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate whether different incubation temperature of eggs prior to hatching can stimulate the muscle development, growth, and growth-related gene expression of the slow-growing indigenous species of climbing perch. The fertilized eggs of A. testudineus from an artificial breeding program were incubated under control temperature of 24 °C (IT24), 26 °C (IT26), 28 °C (IT28), and 30 °C (IT30) in 10L glass aquaria with four replicated units for each temperature treatment. After hatching, the larvae from each incubated temperature were separately reared at ambient temperature for 10 days in aquarium, 20 days in hapas, and the next 42 days in cages, totaling 72 days post-hatching (dph). The hatching rates were found significantly (P < 0.05) higher in IT28 compared to the other incubation temperature treatments. After 72 dph, the growth performances (%length gained, %weight gained and SGR) were found to be significantly highest (P < 0.05) in the IT28, followed by the treatments IT30, IT26, and IT24, respectively. Survival rate (73 ± 1.257%) was also found to be highest in the same treatment. The rate of new muscle fiber formation was identified to be significantly highest (P < 0.05) in IT28 followed by the IT26, IT30 and IT24, respectively. The relative mRNA expression level of GHRH, IGF1, IGF2 and PRL was also significantly highest in the IT28 (P < 0.05) compared to other treatments. Results from the present study clearly suggested that 28 °C is the optimum eggs incubation temperature of the native strain of A. testudineus for its highest growth performances in captive breeding condition.