Abstract: Objective To analyze the effect of silicon chip nanomicrofluidic technology and magnetic activated cell sorting method on the enrichment of fetal nucleated red blood cells (FNRBCs). Method A total of 112 pregnant women who were scheduled to undergo prenatal screening at the hospital's obstetric clinic from January 2020 to December 2022 were selected as the study subjects. 10 mL of blood was collected from the elbow vein and FNRBCs in blood samples were enriched by silicon chip nanomicrofluidic technology and magnetic activated cell sorting method, respectively. We compared the cell morphology and cell count before and after enrichment, the enrichment time of FNRBCs and the sterility test results of two methods. Results The enrichment time of FNRBC by silicon chip nanomicrofluidic technology was longer than that by magnetic activated cell sorting method (P<0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the positive incidence of sterility tests between the two methods (P>0.05). Compared with the magnetic activated cell sorting method, the silicon chip nanomicrofluidic technology yielded fewer total cells, more FNRBCs, and a higher proportion of FNRBCs (P<0.05). Conclusion The risk of contamination of the samples obtained from FNRBCs enrichment by both methods. Compared with magnetic activated cell sorting method, silicon chip nanomicrofluidic technology was more capable of removing mixed cells and obtains a larger number of FNRBCs, which was more effective in the enrichment of FNRBCs, but it took a longer time.

Key words: Fetus, Nucleated red blood cells, Silicon chip nanomicrofluidic technology, Magnetic activated cell sorting method