NebulaPlate: a droplet microfluidic platform to analyze platelet aggregation

Abstract The accurate assessment of platelet activity is crucial in clinical practice and scientific research owing to the pivotal role of platelets in the progression of cardiovascular conditions, such as arterial thrombotic diseases. However, conventional platelet activity assessment methods are c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Zheyi Jiang, Meng Wei, Jiawei Zhu, Chenguang Wang, Tiantian Zhang, Wenjie Zhu, Rong Zhang, Kandi Zhang, Peng Zhang, Yihua Lu, Alex Chia Yu Chang, Yifan Liu, Junfeng Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2025-03-01
Series:Journal of Nanobiotechnology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-025-03212-5
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1850072239864545280
author Zheyi Jiang
Meng Wei
Jiawei Zhu
Chenguang Wang
Tiantian Zhang
Wenjie Zhu
Rong Zhang
Kandi Zhang
Peng Zhang
Yihua Lu
Alex Chia Yu Chang
Yifan Liu
Junfeng Zhang
author_facet Zheyi Jiang
Meng Wei
Jiawei Zhu
Chenguang Wang
Tiantian Zhang
Wenjie Zhu
Rong Zhang
Kandi Zhang
Peng Zhang
Yihua Lu
Alex Chia Yu Chang
Yifan Liu
Junfeng Zhang
author_sort Zheyi Jiang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The accurate assessment of platelet activity is crucial in clinical practice and scientific research owing to the pivotal role of platelets in the progression of cardiovascular conditions, such as arterial thrombotic diseases. However, conventional platelet activity assessment methods are currently limited by their requirement of substantial blood samples and inadequate high-throughput capabilities, and therapeutic resistance induced by antiplatelet agents impedes treatment efficacy. In this study, we developed a microdroplet-based platelet function detection method, referred to as NebulaPlate, to achieve miniaturized and robust platelet activity assessment, thereby overcoming current challenges. NebulaPlate supports the merging of platelet samples with drugs confined in picoliter microdroplets and leverages an imaging-based analysis to automatically identify platelets, evaluate their aggregation, and determine P-selectin expression within the anchored microdroplets. We experimentally confirmed the feasibility of aggregation assays on NebulaPlate using various representative antiplatelet drugs. Requiring only 0.3 mL whole blood/chip, which corresponds to approximately 100 platelets/reaction, NebulaPlate reduced the consumption of platelet samples in a single assay. This represents a reduction of 10 times compared to that of conventional techniques. Moreover, our experimental results confirmed the validity and reproducibility of platelet function assays performed using NebulaPlate. Our research highlights important developments in the field of platelet activity assessment and provides fresh prospects for future antiplatelet therapies and personalized medicine. Moreover, it introduces new possibilities for research and clinical practice related to arterial thrombotic diseases. Graphical abstract
format Article
id doaj-art-4e6460e0b36340e893b5032c05bcdc62
institution DOAJ
issn 1477-3155
language English
publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher BMC
record_format Article
series Journal of Nanobiotechnology
spelling doaj-art-4e6460e0b36340e893b5032c05bcdc622025-08-20T02:47:07ZengBMCJournal of Nanobiotechnology1477-31552025-03-0123111410.1186/s12951-025-03212-5NebulaPlate: a droplet microfluidic platform to analyze platelet aggregationZheyi Jiang0Meng Wei1Jiawei Zhu2Chenguang Wang3Tiantian Zhang4Wenjie Zhu5Rong Zhang6Kandi Zhang7Peng Zhang8Yihua Lu9Alex Chia Yu Chang10Yifan Liu11Junfeng Zhang12Department of Cardiology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineDepartment of Cardiology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineSchool of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech UniversityShanghai Institute of Precision Medicine, Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineDepartment of Cardiology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineSchool of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech UniversitySchool of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineDepartment of Cardiology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineDepartment of Cardiology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineDepartment of Cardiology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineSchool of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech UniversityDepartment of Cardiology, Shanghai Ninth People’s Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of MedicineAbstract The accurate assessment of platelet activity is crucial in clinical practice and scientific research owing to the pivotal role of platelets in the progression of cardiovascular conditions, such as arterial thrombotic diseases. However, conventional platelet activity assessment methods are currently limited by their requirement of substantial blood samples and inadequate high-throughput capabilities, and therapeutic resistance induced by antiplatelet agents impedes treatment efficacy. In this study, we developed a microdroplet-based platelet function detection method, referred to as NebulaPlate, to achieve miniaturized and robust platelet activity assessment, thereby overcoming current challenges. NebulaPlate supports the merging of platelet samples with drugs confined in picoliter microdroplets and leverages an imaging-based analysis to automatically identify platelets, evaluate their aggregation, and determine P-selectin expression within the anchored microdroplets. We experimentally confirmed the feasibility of aggregation assays on NebulaPlate using various representative antiplatelet drugs. Requiring only 0.3 mL whole blood/chip, which corresponds to approximately 100 platelets/reaction, NebulaPlate reduced the consumption of platelet samples in a single assay. This represents a reduction of 10 times compared to that of conventional techniques. Moreover, our experimental results confirmed the validity and reproducibility of platelet function assays performed using NebulaPlate. Our research highlights important developments in the field of platelet activity assessment and provides fresh prospects for future antiplatelet therapies and personalized medicine. Moreover, it introduces new possibilities for research and clinical practice related to arterial thrombotic diseases. Graphical abstracthttps://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-025-03212-5Platelet functionPlatelet aggregationMicrodropletP-selectinMicrofluidic chip
spellingShingle Zheyi Jiang
Meng Wei
Jiawei Zhu
Chenguang Wang
Tiantian Zhang
Wenjie Zhu
Rong Zhang
Kandi Zhang
Peng Zhang
Yihua Lu
Alex Chia Yu Chang
Yifan Liu
Junfeng Zhang
NebulaPlate: a droplet microfluidic platform to analyze platelet aggregation
Journal of Nanobiotechnology
Platelet function
Platelet aggregation
Microdroplet
P-selectin
Microfluidic chip
title NebulaPlate: a droplet microfluidic platform to analyze platelet aggregation
title_full NebulaPlate: a droplet microfluidic platform to analyze platelet aggregation
title_fullStr NebulaPlate: a droplet microfluidic platform to analyze platelet aggregation
title_full_unstemmed NebulaPlate: a droplet microfluidic platform to analyze platelet aggregation
title_short NebulaPlate: a droplet microfluidic platform to analyze platelet aggregation
title_sort nebulaplate a droplet microfluidic platform to analyze platelet aggregation
topic Platelet function
Platelet aggregation
Microdroplet
P-selectin
Microfluidic chip
url https://doi.org/10.1186/s12951-025-03212-5
work_keys_str_mv AT zheyijiang nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT mengwei nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT jiaweizhu nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT chenguangwang nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT tiantianzhang nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT wenjiezhu nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT rongzhang nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT kandizhang nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT pengzhang nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT yihualu nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT alexchiayuchang nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT yifanliu nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation
AT junfengzhang nebulaplateadropletmicrofluidicplatformtoanalyzeplateletaggregation