Chip-based capillary electrophoresis with an electrodeless nanospray interface

A sheathless and electrodeless nanospray interface has been used to interface a polycarbonate capillary electrophoresis (CE) chip to a mass spectrometer (MS). The chip was made of two flat polycarbonate plates which were bolted together. Channels were imprinted in one of the plates with metal wires, using a hydraulic press. A short tapered capillary connected to the chip was used as the nanospray emitter. The advantage of this electrodeless interface is that it was not necessary to apply a electrospray voltage to the chip or the nanospray emitter. Instead, the CE voltage already applied to the buffer compartment on the chip, to drive the electrophoresis, was used to generate the spray also. A low conductivity buffer of 1.25 mmol/L ammonium acetate in 80% methanol was used to obtain a large electric field across the buffer channel. The performance of the device was evaluated by analyzing a mixture of three beta-agonists Relative standard deviation (RSD) values obtained were between 4.8 and 5.0%. A sample concentration of 40 nmol/L resulted in a signal-to-noise ratio of 2 to 5 for the different components. Compared to a conventional CE analysis in a fused silica capillary with UV detection, only a minor loss of resolution was observed, which can be attributed to the design of the chip.     

Rapid inorganic ion analysis using quantitative microchip capillary electrophoresis

Rapid quantitative microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) for online monitoring of drinking water enabling inorganic ion separation in less than 15 s is presented. Comparing cationic and anionic standards at different concentrations the analysis of cationic species resulted in non-linear calibration curves. We interpret this effect as a variation in the volume of the injected sample plug caused by changes of the electroosmotic flow (EOF) due to the strong interaction of bivalent cations with the glass surface. This explanation is supported by the observation of severe peak tailing. Conducting microchip CE analysis in a glass microchannel, optimized conditions are received for the cationic species K+, Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+ using a background electrolyte consisting of 30 mmol/L histidine and 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid, containing 0.5 mmol/L potassium chloride to reduce surface interaction and 4 mmol/L tartaric acid as a complexing agent resulting in a pH-value of 5.8. Applying reversed EOF co-migration for the anionic species Cl-, SO42- and HCO3- optimized separation occurs in a background electrolyte consisting of 10 mmol/L 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES) and 10 mmol/L HEPES sodium salt, containing 0.05 mmol/L CTAB (cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) resulting in a pH-value of 7.5. The detection limits are 20 micromol/L for the monovalent cationic and anionic species and 10 micromol/L for the divalent species. These values make the method very suitable for many applications including the analysis of abundant ions in tap water as demonstrated in this paper.     

HARMONIC ANALYSIS ON THE QUOTIENT k~x非汉字符号k\A~1非汉字符号A~1

0 IntroductionThe group of norm-1 ideles A1 over a global field lt acts by 1111lltip1ication on t11e additivegroup of adeIes A. Let G = A1 be A be tl1eir semidirect product. Let r be its arithnletic sub-group kx oc k. For the case k = Q Dorian Goldfeld gavc ill [2] a Schwartz kernel on r\G whosegeometrical trace equals the prime 11un1ber side of the explicit fOr1llulas of A. Weil. A spectralillterpretatiou in the seuse of the Selberg trace formula is cal1ed for. In order that a geolllet…     

Zebrafish embryo development in a microfluidic flow-through system

The zebrafish embryo is a small, cheap, whole-animal model which may replace rodents in some areas of research. Unfortunately, zebrafish embryos are commonly cultured in microtitre plates using cell-culture protocols with static buffer replacement. Such protocols are highly invasive, consume large quantities of reagents and do not readily permit high-quality imaging. Zebrafish and rodent embryos have previously been cultured in static microfluidic drops, and zebrafish embryos have also been raised in a prototype polydimethylsiloxane setup in a Petri dish. Other than this, no animal embryo has ever been shown to undergo embryonic development in a microfluidic flow-through system. We have developed and prototyped a specialized lab-on-a-chip made from bonded layers of borosilicate glass. We find that zebrafish embryos can develop in the chip for 5 days, with continuous buffer flow at pressures of 0.005-0.04 MPa. Phenotypic effects were seen, but these were scored subjectively as 'minor'. Survival rates of 100% could be reached with buffer flows of 2 μL per well per min. High-quality imaging was possible. An acute ethanol exposure test in the chip replicated the same assay performed in microtitre plates. More than 100 embryos could be cultured in an area, excluding infrastructure, smaller than a credit card. We discuss how biochip technology, coupled with zebrafish larvae, could allow biological research to be conducted in massive, parallel experiments, at high speed and low cost.     

Microchip analysis of lithium in blood using moving boundary electrophoresis and zone electrophoresis

The determination of inorganic cations in blood plasma is demonstrated using a combination of moving boundary electrophoresis (MBE) and zone electrophoresis. The sample loading performed under MBE conditions is studied with the focus on the quantitative analysis of lithium. A concentration adjustment takes place when the sample components migrate into the chip during the sample loading step. Using a heart-cutting method, a diluted sample plug is subsequently separated with capillary zone electrophoresis. The excessive dispersion that is typical of the samples with a high ionic strength is thereby prevented. The method can be easily applied to commercially available capillary electrophoresis microchips under the condition that the electroosmotic flow is suppressed. For the first time the lithium concentration is determined in the blood plasma from a patient on lithium therapy without sample pretreatment. Using a microchip with conductivity detection, a detection limit of 0.1 mmol/L is obtained for lithium in a 140 mmol/L sodium matrix.     

Direct measurement of lithium in whole blood using microchip capillary electrophoresis with integrated conductivity detection

The direct measurement of lithium in whole blood is described. Using microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) with defined sample loading and applying the principles of column coupling, alkali metals were determined in a drop of whole blood. Blood collected from a finger stick was mixed with anticoagulant and transferred onto the chip without extraction or removal of components. The electrokinetic transport of red blood cells inside the channels was studied to find sample loading conditions suitable for the analysis of lithium without injecting cells into the separation channel. Both bare glass chips and chips coated with polyacrylamide were used showing the behavior of the cells under different electroosmotic flow conditions. In serum a detection limit for lithium of 0.4 mmol/L was reached. Proteins quickly contaminated untreated chip surfaces but devices with coating gave reproducible electropherograms. In addition, potassium and sodium were also detected in the same separation run. To our knowledge, this is the first device to directly measure ions in whole blood with the use of capillary zone electrophoresis on a microchip.