微流控技术在临床检测中的应用

Applications of microfluidic technology in clinical diagnosis

微流控技术是近二三十年来飞速发展的一种对微小量级的液体进行操控的技术。通过压力装置、机械装置、电路控制系统、甚至是光波、声波等多种装置可以驱动微升到皮升量级的连续液体或者离散液滴进行移动、融合、分裂等动作。应用于生物医学领域,微流控技术可以节省样本和试剂用量,减少反应时间,缩小仪器体积,并提高实验的自动化程度,具有将一系列生化反应集成到一张微小的"芯片实验室"上的潜力。本文概述了微流控技术的基本原理以及微流控芯片在核酸检测、免疫分析、细胞分析等领域的应用,以展示该技术在临床检测领域的应用前景及挑战。

Microfluidics is a technology which has been rapidly developed in the past two or three decades to control tiny amounts of liquid.A large number of actuation forces can be used to activate the movement of fluids such as pressure pumps or valves,mechanic devices,electrical controlling system,optical forces and acoustic forces.When applied in biomedical field,microfluidics can reduce the consumption of sample and reagents and the reaction time,minimize the footprint of diagnostic devices.Also this technique is compatible with automated control system with the potential to form"lab-on-a-chip"platform by integrating a series of biological and chemical reactions for a complete analysis.In this review,the basic concepts in microfluidics,the applications of microfluidic chips in clinical diagnosis and its future prospect and challenges will be summarized.