Influence factors of channel geometry for separation of circulating tumor cells by four-ring inertial focusing microchannel

Inertial microfluidics is a high-throughput and high-efficiency cell separation approach to which attention has been progressively paid in recent years. However, research on the influencing factors that compromise the efficiency of cell separation is still lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the cell separation efficiency by changing the influencing factors. A four-ring inertial focusing spiral microchannel was designed to separate two kinds of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) from blood. Human breast cancer (MCF-7) cells and human epithelial cervical cancer (HeLa) cells enter the four-ring inertial focusing spiral microchannel together with blood cells, and cancer cells and blood cells were separated from each other at the outlet of the channel by inertial force. The cell separation efficiency at the inlet flow rate in the Reynolds number range of 40-52 was studied by changing the influencing factors such as the cross-sectional shape of the microchannel, the average thickness of the cross-section, and the trapezoidal inclination angle. The results showed that the reduction of the channel thickness and the increase of a certain trapezoidal inclination enhanced the cell separation efficiency to a certain extent, the study showed that when the channel inclination was 6 degrees and the average channel thickness was 160 mu m. The two kinds of CTC cells could be completely separated from the blood and the efficiency could reached 100%.