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    Precise sample metering method by coordinated burst action of hydrophobic burst valves applied to dried blood spot collection

    Year: 2021

    Journal: Lab Chip, Volume 21, NOV 9, page 4445–4454

    Authors: Vloemans, Dries; Van Hileghem, Lorenz; Verbist, Wannes; Thomas, Debby; Dal Dosso, Francesco; Lammertyn, Jeroen

    Organizations: Research Foundations - Flanders [FWO G086114N, 1S33618N]; KU Leuven [C32/17/007, C24/16/022, IDN/20/011, 3E160311]

    Dried blood spot (DBS) sampling by finger-pricking has recently gained a lot of interest as an alternative sample collection method. The reduced invasiveness, requirement of lower sample volumes and suitability for long-term storage at room temperature make DBS ideal for use in home settings or low-resource environments. However, traditional protocols often suffer from biased analysis data due to variable and not exactly known blood volumes present in the samples. In this work, a novel device has been developed to split-off precisely metered volumes from a blood drop and load them on pre-cut filter paper. Hereto, hydrophobic burst valves (HBV) were developed to temporarily retain a fluid flow, configurable to burst at pressures within a range of 175-600 Pa. By combining HBVs with different burst pressures, a volume metering system was developed to allow parallel metering of multiple pre-defined sample volumes. The system was shown to be accurate and consistent for blood volumes between 5-15 mu L and for hematocrit levels spanning the range of 25-70%. Finally, a point-of-care DBS sampling device was developed combining the self-powered microfluidic SIMPLE technology. To evaluate the system's practical applicability, a validation study in the context of therapeutic drug monitoring of biologicals was performed using adalimumab-spiked blood samples. Microfluidic DBS samples showed good performance compared to the traditional DBS method with improved recovery rates (86% over 62%). This innovative metering system, allowing for parallelization and integration with complex liquid manipulations, will greatly impact the field of robust sampling, sample preparation, storage and analysis at the point-of-care.
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