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Introduction: Microfluidic resistive pulse sensing (MRPS) can determine the concentration and size distribution of extracellular vesicles (EVs) by measuring the electrical resistance of single EVs passing through a pore. To ensure that the sample flows through the pore, the sample needs to contain a wetting agent, such as bovine serum albumin (BSA). BSA leaves EVs intact but occasionally results in unstable MRPS measurements. Here, we aim to find a new wetting agent by evaluating Poloxamer-188 and Tween-20. Methods: An EV test sample was prepared using an outdated erythrocyte blood bank concentrate. The EV test sample was diluted in Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline (DPBS) or DPBS containing 0.10% BSA (w/v), 0.050% Poloxamer-188 (v/v) or 1.00% Tween-20 (v/v). The effect of the wetting agents on the concentration and size distribution of EVs was determined by flow cytometry. To evaluate the precision of sample volume determination with MRPS, the interquartile range (IQR) of the particles transit time through the pore was examined. To validate that DPBS containing Poloxamer-188 yields reliable MRPS measurements, the repeatability of MRPS in measuring blood plasma samples was examined. Results: Flow cytometry results show that the size distribution of EVs in Tween 20, in contrast to Poloxamer-188, differs from the control measurements (DPBS and DPBS containing BSA). MRPS results show that Poloxamer-188 improves the precision of sample volume determination compared to BSA and Tween-20, because the IQR of the transit time of EVs in the test sample is 11 μs, which is lower than 56 μs for BSA and 16 μs for Tween-20. Furthermore, the IQR of the transit time of particles in blood samples with Poloxamer-188 are 14, 16, and 14 μs, which confirms the reliability of MRPS measurements. Conclusion: The solution of 0.050% Poloxamer-188 in DPBS does not lyse EVs and results in repeatable and unimpeded MRPS measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the dynamics of the accelerated and steady-state motion of a single bubble in a quiescent highly viscous Newtonian liquid was investigated theoretically and experimentally. The presented mathematical model was based on Newton's second law of motion and a balance of buoyancy, drag, history, and added-mass forces. Due to the presence of non-linear terms in the equation of motion, homotopy perturbation method was used as a powerful analytical method to calculate the velocity analytically. To obtain accurate results in the experiments, a high-speed camera was used to record the bubble motion from the moment of detachment to the time at which the terminal velocity is reached. Moreover, based on the dimensional analysis, an empirical relationship was established for the initial velocity of the bubble at the moment of detachment from the needle tip and was used as an initial condition for solving the equation of motion. It was shown that the analytical and numerical results are in good agreement and are closely related to the experimental data. Using the analytical correlation obtained for bubble velocity, an analytical relationship was proposed for the total drag coefficient of the bubble. In addition, the study of the effect of various parameters on the dynamics of bubble motion revealed that the difference between the initial velocity of the bubble and the terminal velocity increases with increasing bubble equivalent diameter and with decreasing the ambient fluid viscosity, and as a result, the duration of the accelerated motion will rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]