TABLE 3.

Summary and comparison of microfluidic technologies.

Approach	Fundamental principle	Applicable objects	Advantages	Limitations
Cellular rheology measurement	The deformation of cells in microchannels was measured by hydrodynamics	Blood cells, liver cells and lung cells	Fast measurement speed, high precision and repeatability	The cells need to be treated to obtain a certain cell concentration, and the cells are subject to shear forces, resulting in measurement errors
Optical deformation measurement	Stretching cells through two interacting light beams in a microfluidic channel to produce cell deformation	Red blood cells, White blood cells, stem cells, fibroblasts and cancer cells	Fast measurement speed, low sample consumption, low experimental cost, automatable and highly controllable	Multiple parameters cannot be measured simultaneously, special optical equipment is required, and assumptions about cell shape may affect the accuracy of the measurement results
Real-time deformability cytometry measurement method	The deformation properties of cells are measured and analyzed by applying different levels of shear force to induce cell deformation and recording the deformation process by a fast imaging system	Cancer cells, immune cells, and red blood cells	Real-time detection, high-throughput measurement, no damage to cells	Shear force may have an impact on the physiological functions of cells, leading to errors in measurement results, and the high cost of equipment and operation limits its popularity in practical applications