Synthesis and Biodistribution of 99mTc-Labeled PLGA Nanoparticles by Microfluidic Technique

The aim of present study was to develop radiolabeled NPs to overcome the limitations of fluorescence with theranostic potential. Synthesis of PLGA-NPs loaded with technetium-99m was based on a Dean-Vortex-Bifurcation Mixer (DVBM) using an innovative microfluidic technique with high batch-to-batch reproducibility and tailored-made size of NPs. Eighteen different formulations were tested and characterized for particle size, zeta potential, polydispersity index, labeling efficiency, and in vitro stability. Overall, physical characterization by dynamic light scattering (DLS) showed an increase in particle size after radiolabeling probably due to the incorporation of the isotope into the PLGA-NPs shell. NPs of 60 nm (obtained by 5:1 PVA:PLGA ratio and 15 mL/min TFR with 99mTc included in PVA) had high labeling efficiency (94.20 ± 5.83%) and > 80% stability after 24 h and showed optimal biodistribution in BALB/c mice. In conclusion, we confirmed the possibility of radiolabeling NPs with 99mTc using the microfluidics and provide best formulation for tumor targeting studies.

Multi-Vortex Regulation for Efficient Fluid and Particle Manipulation in Ultra-Low Aspect Ratio Curved Microchannels

Inertial microfluidics enables fluid and particle manipulation for biomedical and clinical applications. Herein, we developed a simple semicircular microchannel with an ultra-low aspect ratio to interrogate the unique formations of the helical vortex and Dean vortex by introducing order micro-obstacles. The purposeful and powerful regulation of dimensional confinement in the microchannel achieved significantly improved fluid mixing effects and fluid and particle manipulation in a high-throughput, highly efficient and easy-to-use way. Together, the results offer insights into the geometry-induced multi-vortex mechanism, which may contribute to simple, passive, continuous operations for biochemical and clinical applications, such as the detection and isolation of circulating tumor cells for cancer diagnostics.

Numerical Study of Multivortex Regulation in Curved Microchannels with Ultra-Low-Aspect-Ratio

The field of inertial microfluidics has been significantly advanced in terms of application to fluid manipulation for biological analysis, materials synthesis, and chemical process control. Because of their superior benefits such as high-throughput, simplicity, and accurate manipulation, inertial microfluidics designs incorporating channel geometries generating Dean vortexes and helical vortexes have been studied extensively. However, existing technologies have not been studied by designing low-aspect-ratio microchannels to produce multi-vortexes. In this study, an inertial microfluidic device was developed, allowing the generation and regulation of the Dean vortex and helical vortex through the introduction of micro-obstacles in a semicircular microchannel with ultra-low aspect ratio. Multi-vortex formations in the vertical and horizontal planes of four dimension-confined curved channels were analyzed at different flow rates. Moreover, the regulation mechanisms of the multi-vortex were studied systematically by altering the micro-obstacle length and channel height. Through numerical simulation, the regulation of dimensional confinement in the microchannel is verified to induce the Dean vortex and helical vortex with different magnitudes and distributions. The results provide insights into the geometry-induced secondary flow mechanism, which can inspire simple and easily built planar 2D microchannel systems with low-aspect-ratio design with application in fluid manipulations for chemical engineering and bioengineering.

Mixing Performance of a Cross-Channel Split-and-Recombine Micro-Mixer Combined with Mixing Cell

A new cross-channel split-and-recombine (CC-SAR) micro-mixer was proposed, and its performance was demonstrated numerically. A numerical study was carried out over a wide range of volume flow rates from 3.1 μL/min to 826.8 μL/min. The corresponding Reynolds number ranges from 0.3 to 80. The present micro-mixer consists of four mixing units. Each mixing unit is constructed by combining one split-and-recombine (SAR) unit with a mixing cell. The mixing performance was analyzed in terms of the degree of mixing and relative mixing cost. All numerical results show that the present micro-mixer performs better than other micro-mixers based on SARs over a wide range of volume flow rate. The mixing enhancement is realized by a particular motion of vortex flow: the Dean vortex in the circular sub-channel and another vortex inside the mixing cell. The two vortex flows are generated on the different planes perpendicular to each other. They cause the two fluids to change their relative position as the fluids flow into the circular sub-channel of the SAR, eventually promoting violent mixing. High vorticity in the mixing cell elongates the flow interface between two fluids, and promotes mixing in the flow regime of molecular diffusion dominance.

The three-dimensional structure of swirl-switching in bent pipe flow

Swirl-switching is a low-frequency oscillatory phenomenon which affects the Dean vortices in bent pipes and may cause fatigue in piping systems. Despite thirty years worth of research, the mechanism that causes these oscillations and the frequencies that characterise them remain unclear. Here we show that a three-dimensional wave-like structure is responsible for the low-frequency switching of the dominant Dean vortex. The present study, performed via direct numerical simulation, focuses on the turbulent flow through a $90^{\circ }$ pipe bend preceded and followed by straight pipe segments. A pipe with curvature 0.3 (defined as ratio between pipe radius and bend radius) is studied for a bulk Reynolds number $Re=11\,700$, corresponding to a friction Reynolds number $Re_{\unicode[STIX]{x1D70F}}\approx 360$. Synthetic turbulence is generated at the inflow section and used instead of the classical recycling method in order to avoid the interference between recycling and swirl-switching frequencies. The flow field is analysed by three-dimensional proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) which for the first time allows the identification of the source of swirl-switching: a wave-like structure that originates in the pipe bend. Contrary to some previous studies, the flow in the upstream pipe does not show any direct influence on the swirl-switching modes. Our analysis further shows that a three-dimensional characterisation of the modes is crucial to understand the mechanism, and that reconstructions based on two-dimensional POD modes are incomplete.

A Study on the Instantaneous Turbulent Flow Field in a 90-Degree Elbow Pipe with Circular Section

Based on the special application of 90-degree elbow pipe in the HTR-PM, the large eddy simulation was selected to calculate the instantaneous flow field in the 90-degree elbow pipe combining with the experimental results. The characteristics of the instantaneous turbulent flow field under the influence of flow separation and secondary flow were studied by analyzing the instantaneous pressure information at specific monitoring points and the instantaneous velocity field on the cross section of the elbow. The pattern and the intensity of the Dean vortex and the small scale eddies change over time and induce the asymmetry of the flow field. The turbulent disturbance upstream and the flow separation near the intrados couple with the vortexes of various scales. Energy is transferred from large scale eddies to small scale eddies and dissipated by the viscous stress in the end.