Multiparameter mobile blood analyzer for complete blood count utilizing contrast-enhanced defocusing imaging

Abstract

Blood analysis, though complete blood count (CBC), is the most basic medical test for disease diagnosis and health monitoring. However, the need for bulky and expensive laboratory facilities and skilled technicians limits the universal medical practices based on blood analysis outside of well-equipped laboratory environments. Here, we proposed a multiparameter mobile blood analyzer utilizing label-free contrast-enhanced defocusing imaging (CEDI) with the assistance of machine vision for instant and on-site blood analysis. The analyzer using CEDI obtains both the blood cell morphological characteristics and hemoglobin spectrophotometric information for simultaneous five-part white blood cell differential count, red blood cell count, and hemoglobin quantification without the need for sample staining. In addition, we have designed a miniature microscope with a sub-micron spatial resolution of (~0.98 μm), which is quite small, lightweight, and cost-effective for blood imaging. We have shown that our assay can analyze a sample within 10 minutes, using just a drop of fingertip blood (~7 μl) and measurements (30 samples) from the analyzer have strong correlations with clinical reference values (significant level: P < 0.0001). The proposed mobile blood analyzer can help provide universal access to blood analysis and has great potential for integrated surveillance of various epidemic diseases, including coronavirus infection, invermination, and anemia, especially in low-and middle-income countries.