Microfluidic Techniques for Platelet Separation and Enrichment

Abstract

One of the major areas of active research in microfluidics is in
biological applications. These applications often require complex analysis
of biological fluids for clinical diagnostics. One such complex multicomponent
suspension is blood, a mixture of cells suspended in plasma.
The cellular components constitute RBCs, WBCs, and platelets. Platelets
play a fundamental role in blood clotting mechanism and their efficient
functioning is of utmost importance. Platelet separation is necessary for
disease diagnostics, transfusion, and research purposes. Centrifugation
is commonly employed for platelet separation. However, researchers are
developing techniques to enable platelet separation using microfluidics
as a tool, primarily due to the various advantages offered while working
at microscale. In this review, we investigate and highlight various microscale
platelet separation techniques currently available, focusing on
their design, working principle, and performance aspects. The issues,
challenges, and further possibilities of research and development are
also underscored. Our review indicates that not many microdevices for
platelet separation are currently available, pointing to an important void
that needs to be urgently filled. A brief discussion on the conventional
method of platelet separation and platelet dynamics is also included.