Browsing by Subject "acoustic trapping"

The properties of liquid and gas flows in microscale systems differ from those in macroscale; microfluidics is a field of science in which these properties are investigated and utilized for the development of microscale systems. Acoustofluidics is a branch of microfluidics focusing on the movement (acoustophoresis) or localization (acoustic trapping) of particles in microchannels using ultrasound. In this work, the suitability of a new miniaturized method for the screening of cell-drug interactions was investigated. In the method, the cells were acoustically trapped within a glass capillary, enabling liquid movement (generated with a syringe pump) in the capillary while the trapped cell cluster remains stationary. In this manner, the trapping of cells, their incubation with a drug solution, rinsing, and the elution could be done using the same capillary. The sample preparation was done using a miniaturized solid phase extraction technique (integrated selective enrichment target, ISET), and the analysis was done with matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI MS). The drug compounds investigated were selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI). The research was conducted in five phases. In the first phase, a suitable solid phase extraction method for the drug compounds was investigated. In the second phase, the performance of the acoustic trap was investigated by acoustically trapping polystyrene beads and Coulter counting them. In the third phase, the method was modelled by conducting drug binding studies using cation exchange beads instead of cells. In the fourth phase, the drug binding studies were conducted by investigating the binding of drug compounds to human platelets and yeast cells. Platelets were chosen due to the expression of serotonin transporter, the molecular target of SSRI drugs, on their cell membranes. Also a cell membrane preparation containing serotonin transporter was used for the binding studies. In addition, memory effects occurring in the method were investigated. In the fifth phase, comparative drug binding studies without acoustic trapping were conducted. The suitability of the method for the screening of cell-drug interactions could not be thoroughly substantiated, but further research and method development are required. The reason for this was the inadequate sensitivity of the method, because of which large drug concentrations had to be used. This lead to the increased occurrence of memory effects.