An integrated microfluidic system for multi-target biochemical analysis of a single drop of blood

Herein, we described an integrated microfluidic system for multi-target biochemical analysis of micro-volumes of blood samples. This system mainly consists of a microfluid handling module, an integrated microwell array chip, a temperature control module and a spectral detection module. A novel microfluidic plasma extraction approach was developed by coupling the filter membrane-based plasma separation technique with the microfluidic liquid-handling technique. With this approach, quantitative extraction of trace blood with volumes as low as a drop (30 μL) can be automatically realized. Multiple operations in multi-target biochemical analysis are achieved including micro-volume blood collecting, quantitative plasma extraction, plasma dilution, plasma distribution, transferring, biochemical reaction and absorption spectroscopy detection. This system was applied to the multi-target biochemical analysis of glucose, cholesterol and total protein in blood samples and could achieve the determination of the target analytes of a 30-μL blood sample within 11 min. The experimental results are consistent with those obtained by a commercial biochemical analyzer.