Table 2.
Comparison of various methods for single-cell manipulation.
| Methods | Advantages | Disadvantages | Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Throughput | Efficiency | Accuracy | ||||
| Hydrody-namic method | Droplet [27] | High-throughput, simple chip structure with great flexibility | Difficult to culture adherent cell, difficult to introduce biochemicals into droplets | 250 µL/h | 75% | -- |
| Inertial [55] | High throughput, high cell viability, and simple chip | Only work well under specific flow rates and cell concentrations | 3 mL/min | 84% | -- | |
| Vortex [58] | Has no strict requirement about the properties of cells and fluid | Require external controller, low single-cell efficiency | -- | -- | Cell rotation 3.5 ± 2.1° s−1 | |
| Micro-valve [60] | Reliable and fast for control, suitable for large-scale integration | Require complex and cumbersome external control devices | 96 cells/chip | 90.6 ± 8% | -- | |
| Micro-structure [60] | Simple for operation, high throughput | Inflexibility, hard to control specific single-cell | 10000 cells/chip | 90% | -- | |
| Electrical method | Dielectro-phoresis [20] | Contactless, high selectivity, label-free | Require low-conductivity buffer | 3264 pair of cells/chip | 74.2% | -- |
| Electro-osmosis [70] | Label-free, easy for integrated fabrication | Low efficiency and accuracy with increased flow rate | 81 cells/chip | 73% | -- | |
| Optical method | Optical tweezer [12] | High accuracy and efficiency | Low throughput, high cost | -- | 97% | 98% |
| ODEP [76] | Flexible virtual electrodes, label-free, simple and low-cost | Require low-conductivity solution, opaque substrate | Scalable | -- | -- | |
| Opto-thermocapillary [77] | Flexible, can pattern single cells in hydrogel with high viability | High cost for cumbersome peripherical optical system | Low | High | High | |
| Acoustic method [23] | Noninvasive, label-free, good penetrability | Need piezoelectric substrate for chip fabrication | High | -- | High | |
| Magnetic method [81] | Reliable and highly efficient | Not label-free | 200 µL/min | > 85% | > 80% | |
| Micro-robot-assisted method [84] | High accuracy, flexible and controllable | Low throughput | Low | High | -- | |