Rapid EC50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics

Droplet-based bioassays are attractive for increasing throughput while minimizing reagent consumption. However, the choice of continuous oil phase within the bioassay can substantially alter assay outcomes when hydrophobic reagents and analytes dynamically partition between the oil and aqueous phase...

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Main Authors: Ortiz, Raphael, Stuckey, David C., Steele, Terry W. J.
Other Authors: School of Materials Science & Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2019
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/91261
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/49445
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-912612020-09-26T21:58:50Z Rapid EC50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics Ortiz, Raphael Stuckey, David C. Steele, Terry W. J. School of Materials Science & Engineering Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute Droplet Engineering::Materials Microfluidic Droplet-based bioassays are attractive for increasing throughput while minimizing reagent consumption. However, the choice of continuous oil phase within the bioassay can substantially alter assay outcomes when hydrophobic reagents and analytes dynamically partition between the oil and aqueous phases. Fluorinated continuous phases have been recognized as a better alternative to hydrocarbons to prevent leakage from droplets but variations among them has not been quantitatively addressed and analysis is complicated by the presence of surfactants. Herein, surface modification strategies to avoid surfactants are demonstrated with fluorocarbon oils for the first time. Perfluorocarbons, hydrofluoroether and hexadecane are quantitatively compared based on their aqueous distribution coefficient with a model industrial toxicant, pentachlorophenol (PCP). PCP partition in the oil phase skews cytotoxicity evaluation, wherein a bacterial inhibition assay displays a wide range of EC50 values for the same toxicant. Prevention of PCP extraction in a real-time viability assay reveals a 40-fold difference in LD50 toxicity vs. hexadecane control. Theoretical and empirical approaches to limit bioassay partitioning are established for expansion outside cell viability analyses employed herein. Structure activity relationships of surface modification and oil-water partition are related to Hamaker constants and Hansen solubility parameters towards translation on disposable plastics beside poly(methyl acrylate). The results provide a theoretical basis towards design and selection of continuous phase oils and microfluidic substrates to achieve a range of aqueous/oil partitioning for droplet microfluidic bioassays. NRF (Natl Research Foundation, S’pore) ASTAR (Agency for Sci., Tech. and Research, S’pore) Published version 2019-07-19T03:57:57Z 2019-12-06T18:02:30Z 2019-07-19T03:57:57Z 2019-12-06T18:02:30Z 2019 Journal Article Ortiz, R., Stuckey, D. C., & Steele, T. W. (2019). Rapid EC50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics. Micro and Nano Engineering, 3, 82-91. doi:10.1016/j.mne.2019.05.001 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/91261 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/49445 10.1016/j.mne.2019.05.001 en Micro and Nano Engineering © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/). 10 p. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
country Singapore
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Droplet
Engineering::Materials
Microfluidic
spellingShingle Droplet
Engineering::Materials
Microfluidic
Ortiz, Raphael
Stuckey, David C.
Steele, Terry W. J.
Rapid EC50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics
description Droplet-based bioassays are attractive for increasing throughput while minimizing reagent consumption. However, the choice of continuous oil phase within the bioassay can substantially alter assay outcomes when hydrophobic reagents and analytes dynamically partition between the oil and aqueous phases. Fluorinated continuous phases have been recognized as a better alternative to hydrocarbons to prevent leakage from droplets but variations among them has not been quantitatively addressed and analysis is complicated by the presence of surfactants. Herein, surface modification strategies to avoid surfactants are demonstrated with fluorocarbon oils for the first time. Perfluorocarbons, hydrofluoroether and hexadecane are quantitatively compared based on their aqueous distribution coefficient with a model industrial toxicant, pentachlorophenol (PCP). PCP partition in the oil phase skews cytotoxicity evaluation, wherein a bacterial inhibition assay displays a wide range of EC50 values for the same toxicant. Prevention of PCP extraction in a real-time viability assay reveals a 40-fold difference in LD50 toxicity vs. hexadecane control. Theoretical and empirical approaches to limit bioassay partitioning are established for expansion outside cell viability analyses employed herein. Structure activity relationships of surface modification and oil-water partition are related to Hamaker constants and Hansen solubility parameters towards translation on disposable plastics beside poly(methyl acrylate). The results provide a theoretical basis towards design and selection of continuous phase oils and microfluidic substrates to achieve a range of aqueous/oil partitioning for droplet microfluidic bioassays.
author2 School of Materials Science & Engineering
author_facet School of Materials Science & Engineering
Ortiz, Raphael
Stuckey, David C.
Steele, Terry W. J.
format Article
author Ortiz, Raphael
Stuckey, David C.
Steele, Terry W. J.
author_sort Ortiz, Raphael
title Rapid EC50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics
title_short Rapid EC50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics
title_full Rapid EC50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics
title_fullStr Rapid EC50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics
title_full_unstemmed Rapid EC50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics
title_sort rapid ec50 determination of hydrophobic toxicants in continuous droplet biomicrofluidics
publishDate 2019
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/91261
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/49445
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