Table 2 Merits and Demerits of Different Methods for Isolating FNRBCs

Conventional

Cell size;

Simple;

Low capture rate;

[32]

Cell density;

Low-cost to operate

Low purity;

Surface antigen

Low vitality;

 DGC

Cell density

Simple;

Low purity;

[33]

Low-cost to operate

Pretreatment method

 FACS

Surface antigen;

Fast;

Expensive;

[34]

Fluorescent fuels;

High purity;

High requirements

Flow cytometry

Sort multiple cells Simultaneously

 MACS

Surface antigen;

Convenient;

Low purity;

[56]

Magnetic bead;

Less costly;

Not sorting multiple cells

Magnetic Fields

Wide application

 Affinity lectin separation

Galactose residue;

Low cost;

Low purity

[44]

SBA

Simple;

High capture rate

 Microscope operation

Morphology of stained cells

Convenient;

Expensive;

[60]

For single-cell sorting

High demanding

Novel

Micro-/nanomaterials;

High sensitivity;

Few clinical applications

[64]

High throughput;

High capture rate;

Miniaturization

High purity;

High vitality

 Microfiltration chips

Cell size;

Not require biomarkers;

Cell clogging;

[85]

Cell deformability

Simple to operate;

Low purity;

High throughput

Low vitality

 DLD microchips

Cell size;

Not require biomarkers;

Large blood samples;

[91]

Displacements and directions;

Simple to operate;

Cell clogging;

High capture rate;

Low purity

 DEP microchips

Dielectric properties;

Simple to operate;

Electrodes easily electrolyze;

[92]

Inhomogeneous electric field;

For single-cell sorting

Generate some air bubbles;

Displacements and directions

Long sorting time

 Acoustic chips

Cell size;

Non-contact manipulability;

Demanding equipment;

[130]

Acoustic contrast factors

High biocompatibility;

Complex sorting

Gentleness

 Droplet chips

Incompatible multiphase fluids;

Miniaturization;

High cost;

[144]

Micro-valve control;

Confinement;

Few clinical application

Micro-sized droplets

Parallelism

 Immunoaffinity microchips

Surface antigen;

High capture rate;

Few clinical applications

[150,151,152]

Immunoaffinity

High purity;

High vitality

 Static nano-substrates

Surface antigen;

Easy to operate;

Non-specific cells adhesion

[30, 39, 154, 173]

Immunoaffinity;

High capture rate

Nanomaterials;

Nanomembranes

 Dynamic nano-substrates

Surface antigen;

Reduce WBCs adhesion;

Microbeads easily cluster

[14, 28, 38, 170]

Immunoaffinity;

Simple and low cost;

Magnetic beads

High throughput