Label-Free Cell Separation Using a Tunable Magnetophoretic Repulsion Force

Abstract

This paper describes a new label-free cell separation method using a magnetic repulsion force resulting from the magnetic susceptibility difference between cells and a paramagnetic buffer solution in a microchannel. The difference in the magnetic forces acting on different-sized cells is enhanced by adjusting the magnetic susceptibility of the surrounding medium, which depends on the concentration of paramagnetic salts, such as biocompatible gadolinium diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd–DTPA), dissolved therein. As a proof-of-concept demonstration, Gd–DTPA solutions at concentrations of 0–80 mM were applied to separate U937 cells from red blood cells (RBCs) and to distinguish two different-sized polystyrene (PS) beads (8 and 10 μm in diameter). By increasing the Gd–DTPA concentration from 0 to 40 mM, the separation resolution of PS beads was increased from 0.08 to 0.91. Additionally, we successfully achieved label-free separation of U937 cells from RBCs with >90% purity and 1 × 10⁵ cells/h throughput using a 40 mM Gd–DTPA solution.