FLOW/STERIC FFF--A NEW METHOD FOR CELL SEPARATIONS

FLOW/STERIC FIELD-FLOW FRACTIONATION (FLOW/STFFF) IS A RECENTLY DEVELOPED METHOD WITH EXTRAORDINARY SPEED AND RESOLVING POWER DESIGNED TO SEPARATE PARTICULATE MATERIALS FALLING ROUGHLY IN THE 1 TO 100 MUM PARTICLE DIAMETER RANGE. THE OBJECT OF THIS PROJECT IS TO EXAMINE THE POTENTIAL OF CONVERTING THIS RESEARCH FINDING INTO A FAST AND RELIABLE TOOL FOR THE FRACTIONATION AND CHARACTERIZATIONOF CELLS IN SAMPLES OF CLINICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL INTEREST. IN FLOW/STFFF, SAMPLE PARTICLES ARE SUBJECTED TO A CROSS-FLOW FIELD WHILE BEING CARRIED ALONG BY A CARRIER LIQUID IN A RIBBONLIKE THIN CHANNEL WITH PERMEABLE WALLS. CELL PARTICLES WILL ELUTE DEPENDING ON THEIR SIZE AND SHAPE AND, IN SOME CASES, DENSITY. AS THESE PARAMETERS ARE REFLECTED IN THE ELUTION PROFILES OR FRACTOGRAMS, THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NORMAL AND ABNORMAL CELLS CAN BE IDENTIFIED BY OBSERVING THE PATTERN OF THE FRACTOGRAMS. THIS METHOD WILL BE STUDIED FOR ITS POSSIBLE ROUTINE APPLICATION TO CELL POPULATIONS. IN PARTICULAR, ITS APPLICABILITY TO THE DIAGNOSIS OF ABNORMAL HUMAN RED BLOOD CELLS WILL BE EXAMINED. THE ABILITY OF FLOW/STFFF TO ISOLATE PURE CELL POPULATIONS OF VIABLE CELLS WILL ALSO RECEIVE MAJOR ATTENTION. THE METHOD, ONCE DEVELOPED, SHOULD BE RELATIVELY SIMPLE AND COST EFFECTIVE. THE ANALYSIS TIME WITH THIS METHOD IS NOW APPROXIMATELY 1 TO 5 MINUTES FOR A SAMPLE, WITH ADDITIONAL REDUCTION POSSIBLE. FROM 10(5) TO 10(7) CELLS ARE EXPECTED TO CONSTITUTE THE OPTIMUM SAMPLE SIZE.