<p>Spatial manipulation of flow gradients and chemical microenvironments is essential for understanding fundamental biological mechanisms and investigating therapeutic responses in adherent cells. Convection-dominated gradient generators in microfluidic devices enable tunable chemical and shear stress gradients across large cell culture areas. However, most concentration generators are irreversibly sealed and operate in a narrow range of shear stresses, which restricts access to the cells after treatment and the physiological relevance of the flow conditions. Here, we present a reversibly sealable microfluidic platform that enables spatiotemporally controlled delivery of multiple small molecules to mammalian cells grown on large glass coverslips. Our device generates a relatively wide range of shear stresses and robust, spatially predictable chemical gradients across centimeter-scale areas and provides optical access compatible with live-cell imaging; it operates in the Stokes and laminar flow regimes. A mechanical sandwich clamp enables leak-free perfusion into the cell culture chamber and access to the cells after treatment. We experimentally and numerically demonstrate the ability to modulate the amount of mixing between co-flowing streams of small molecules. We verify the uptake of fluorophores across a monolayer of cells and assess their viability after perfusion and removal from the device. This platform provides a versatile and reusable approach for studying cellular responses to microenvironmental gradients in varied physiologically relevant shear stress conditions.</p>

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Reversibly-sealable microfluidic platform for multi-molecule gradient delivery to large adherent cell cultures

  • Julia Radzio,
  • Łukasz Suprewicz,
  • Da Kuang,
  • Alexander Karpowicz,
  • Paul A. Janmey,
  • Jai-Yoon Sul,
  • David A. Issadore,
  • James H. Eberwine,
  • Paulo E. Arratia

摘要

Spatial manipulation of flow gradients and chemical microenvironments is essential for understanding fundamental biological mechanisms and investigating therapeutic responses in adherent cells. Convection-dominated gradient generators in microfluidic devices enable tunable chemical and shear stress gradients across large cell culture areas. However, most concentration generators are irreversibly sealed and operate in a narrow range of shear stresses, which restricts access to the cells after treatment and the physiological relevance of the flow conditions. Here, we present a reversibly sealable microfluidic platform that enables spatiotemporally controlled delivery of multiple small molecules to mammalian cells grown on large glass coverslips. Our device generates a relatively wide range of shear stresses and robust, spatially predictable chemical gradients across centimeter-scale areas and provides optical access compatible with live-cell imaging; it operates in the Stokes and laminar flow regimes. A mechanical sandwich clamp enables leak-free perfusion into the cell culture chamber and access to the cells after treatment. We experimentally and numerically demonstrate the ability to modulate the amount of mixing between co-flowing streams of small molecules. We verify the uptake of fluorophores across a monolayer of cells and assess their viability after perfusion and removal from the device. This platform provides a versatile and reusable approach for studying cellular responses to microenvironmental gradients in varied physiologically relevant shear stress conditions.