Microplatforms for avian malaria studies

This work demonstrates a microfluidic platform to study and differentiate avian red blood cells infected to various degrees by the malaria parasite Plasmodium gallinaceum. The preliminary finding points to the feasibility of using the morphological changes on the surface of the malaria infected avian RBC (miaRBC) as biomarkers for diagnosis. By embedding a glass substrate with a controlled surface roughness in a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidic channels, the surface lesions and furrow-like structures on the miaRBC surfaces could interact with the substrate and be separated at 3.2%, 3.9%, 9.1%, 13.4%, and 20.1% infections. It was estimated that the miaRBCs could be selectively captured under a wall shear rate between 2.1 to 3.2 s^-1, and could be improved by increasing the channel length and finer flow control.