16.1

Introduction

To make biology more predictable, advanced engineering technologies can be

advantageously used not only to understand the conventional qualitative biology

but also to estimate (Lopatkin and Collins 2020) functionality of various

components of complex living organisms. Quantitative biology helps us to compre-

hend the intricate network of functioning of basic components of living organisms

like genes, proteins, and various involved pathways. It helps us to appreciate biology

modules and networks and hence facilitate in controlling the environments minutely

(Azuaje et al. 2009; Turku PET centre n.d.). One can carry out relative

measurements of various parameters at very small scales with higher resolution by

employing these advanced engineering techniques encompassing microfluidics and

nanofluidics wherein one has flexibility to manipulate the fluids at a scale which is

less than tens of micrometers or nanometers respectively. It first started in the 1950s

when these were fabricated on Si substrate and subsequently gained momentum with

the advent of soft lithography in the 1990s, which considerably reduced the cost as

well as the level of difficulty in its production. Integrating microfluidics and

nanofluidics with external instruments goes a long way in investigating organism

and components ranging from subcellular to multicellular.

There could be two different approaches in microfluidics, viz., channel based and

droplet based. Real-time observation could be easily carried out in channel-based

microfluidics which can easily provide a long-term living environment enabling it to

capture even subtle changes of cell behaviors. In droplet-based microfluidics, each

well-defined water droplet with surrounding oil phase could be regarded as isolated

reactors for cell living inside or for biochemical reactions. These water droplets

could also provide 3D microenvironment.

Coronary heart disease is a very common disease, which kills about 19 million

people every year. Nearly 18.2 million adults are suffering from coronary artery

disease (CAD) which include people aged 20 and above. About 2 out of 10 deaths

from CAD happen in adults who are below 65 years of age. In 2016, the estimated

prevalence of coronary diseases in India was estimated to be 54.5 million which

resulted in one in four deaths in India. Above 80% of deaths resulted from ischemic

heart disease and stroke. These diseases tend to affect patients in their most produc-

tive years of their lives which has disastrous social and economic consequences.

Individuals with possibility of coronary-related diseases may have related symptoms

which may include overweight, obesity, as well as raised blood pressure, glucose,

and lipids. Identifying all those persons who are at highest risk of this disease and

also ensuring that they are appropriately given medical treatment can certainly

prevent premature deaths. In the present chapter, important role of microfluidics

and nanofluidics has been discussed which help in quantifying various parameters of

this heart disease and help the medical world in managing CAD. Subsequent

sections of this chapter deal with the introduction to CAD, understanding basics of

microfluidics and nanofluidics, a dynamic microscopic theoretical model, methods

of quantifying various involved biological parameters, and available clinical and

research software packages. The chapter concludes with possible future scope of this

field.

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K. Tankeshwar and S. Srivastava