Microfiber Fabricated via Microfluidic Spinning toward Tissue Engineering Applications

Microfibers, a type of long, thin, and flexible material, can be assembled into functional 3D structures by folding, binding, and weaving. As a novel spinning method, combining microfluidic technology and wet spinning, microfluidic spinning technology can precisely control the size, morphology, structure, and composition of the microfibers. Particularly, the process is mild and rapid, which is suitable for preparing microfibers using biocompatible materials and without affecting the viability of cells encapsulated. Furthermore, owing to the controllability of microfluidic spinning, microfibers with well-defined structures (such as hollow structures) will contribute to the exchange of nutrients or guide cell orientation. Thus, this method is often used to fabricate microfibers as cell scaffolds for cell encapsulation or adhesion and can be further applied to biomimetic fibrous tissues. In this review, the focus is on different fiber structures prepared by microfluidic spinning technology, including solid, hollow, and heterogeneous structures, generated from three essential elements: spinning platform, fiber composition, and solidification methods. Furthermore, the application of microfibers is described with different structures in tissue engineering, such as blood vessels, skeletal muscle, bone, nerves, and lung bronchi. Finally, the challenges and future development prospects of microfluidic spinning technology in tissue engineering applications are discussed.     

Microarrays Formed by Microfluidic Spinning as Multidimensional Microreactors

The exploration of methods allowing chemical reactions to be carried out at ultrasmall scales is of great scientific and technological interest. We report herein a microfluidic spinning technique for the fabrication of softened‐polymer microarrays for use as multidimensional microreactors and the application of these microreactors in the synthesis of fluorescent nanocrystals. Highly aligned microarrays and controlled‐angle grids were readily constructed from microfluidically spun polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) microfibers. One–zero dimensional (1D–0D), one–one dimensional (1D–1D), and one–two dimensional (1D–2D) microreactors were then produced by the intersections between microfibers and droplets, crossed microfibers, and microfibers and a PVP film, respectively; each component can be doped with different reagents. Specific examples show that these multidimensional microreactors enable the in situ generation of fluorescent nanocrystals without ligands within minutes.     

Microfluidic chip-based fabrication of PLGA microfiber scaffolds for tissue engineering

In this paper, we have developed a method to produce poly(lactic- co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) microfibers within a microfluidic chip for the generation of 3D tissue engineering scaffolds. The synthesis of PLGA fibers was achieved by using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based microfluidic spinning device in which linear streams of PLGA dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) were precipitated in a glycerol-containing water solution. By changing the flow rate of PLGA solution from 1 to 50 microL/min with a sheath flow rate of 250 or 1000 microL/min, fibers were formed with diameters that ranged from 20 to 230 microm. The PLGA fibers were comprised of a dense outer surface and a highly porous interior. To evaluate the applicability of PLGA microfibers generated in this process as a cell culture scaffold, L929 fibroblasts were seeded on the PLGA fibers either as-fabricated or coated with fibronectin. L929 fibroblasts showed no significant difference in proliferation on both PLGA microfibers after 5 days of culture. As a test for application as nerve guide, neural progenitor cells were cultured and the neural axons elongated along the PLGA microfibers. Thus our experiments suggest that microfluidic chip-based PLGA microfiber fabrication may be useful for 3D cell culture tissue engineering applications.     

Hydrogel microfluidic co‐culture device for photothermal therapy and cancer migration

We developed the photo‐crosslinkable hydrogel microfluidic co‐culture device to study photothermal therapy and cancer cell migration. To culture MCF7 human breast carcinoma cells and metastatic U87MG human glioblastoma in the microfluidic device, we used 10 w/v% gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogels as a semi‐permeable physical barrier. We demonstrated the effect of gold nanorod on photothermal therapy of cancer cells in the microfluidic co‐culture device. Interestingly, we observed that metastatic U87MG human glioblastoma largely migrated toward vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)‐treated GelMA hydrogel‐embedding microchannels. The main advantage of this hydrogel microfluidic co‐culture device is to simultaneously analyze the physiological migration behaviors of two cancer cells with different physiochemical motilities and study gold nanorod‐mediated photothermal therapy effect. Therefore, this hydrogel microfluidic co‐culture device could be a potentially powerful tool for photothermal therapy and cancer cell migration applications.     

Characterization of the interaction between fibroblasts and tumor cells on a microfluidic co‐culture device

Fibroblasts and tumor cells have been involved in the process of cancer development, progression and therapy. Here, we present a simple microfluidic device which enables to study the interaction between fibroblasts and tumor cells by indirect contact co‐culture. The device is composed of multiple cell culture chambers which are connected by a parallel of cell migration regions, and it enables to realize different types of cells to communicate each other on the single device. In this work, human embryonic lung fibroblasts cells were observed to exhibit obvious migration towards tumor cells instead of normal epithelial cells on the co‐culture device. Moreover, transdifferentiation of human embryonic lung fibroblast cells was recognized by the specific expression of α‐smooth musle actin, indicating the effect of tumor cells on the behavior of fibroblasts. Furthermore, multiple types of cell co‐culture can be demonstrated on the single device which enables to mimic the complicated microenviroment in vivo. The device is simple and easy to operate, which enables to realize real‐time observation of cell migration after external stimulus. This microfluidic device allows for the characterization of various cellular events on a single device sequentially, faciliating the better understanding of interaction between heterotypic cells in a more complex microenvironment.     

Microfluidic fabrication of β-phase enriched poly(vinylidene fluoride) microfibers toward flexible piezoelectric sensor

β-phase enriched piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) films/fibers are often prepared by high-energy costing methods, including mechanical stretching, high-electric field or electrospinning. In this study, PVDF piezoelectric microfibers, for the first time, were prepared by microfluidic spinning technology. The β-phase enriched PVDF microfibers with various diameters could be easily obtained inside the microfluidic channel due to the mass transfer induced phase inversion of the inner PVDF solution. The influence of diameter of the fibers, PVDF concentration of the inner phase and water content of the outer phase on the β-phase content and crystallinity degree of the obtained fibers was studied in detail. The obtained β-phase enriched fiber was weaved into meshes. Flexible piezoelectric fabrics were then developed based on these meshes, and further used as in-situ and real time human motion monitoring. This simple and effective strategy provides a promising microfluidic spinning technique toward the development of functional microfibers and wearable piezoelectric sensors, which may also give some implies for the industrial wet-spinning of piezoelectric PVDF fibers in the future.     

Large Scale Production of Continuous Hydrogel Fibers with Anisotropic Swelling Behavior by Dynamic‐Crosslinking‐Spinning

Hydrogel microfibers have been considered as a potential biomaterial to spatiotemporally biomimic 1D native tissues such as nerves and muscles which are always assembled hierarchically and have anisotropic response to external stimuli. To produce facile hydrogel microfibers in a mathematical manner, a novel dynamic‐crosslinking‐spinning (DCS) method is demonstrated for direct fabrication of size‐controllable fibers from poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate) oligomer in large scale, without microfluidic template and in a biofriendly environment. The diameter of fibers can be precisely controlled by adjusting the spinning parameters. Anisotropic swelling property is also dependent on inhomogeneous structure generated in spinning process. Comparing with bulk hydrogels, the resulting fibers exhibit superior rapid water adsorption property, which can be attributed to the large surface area/volume ratio of fiber. This novel DCS method is one‐step technology suitable for large‐scale production of anisotropic hydrogel fibers which has a promising application in the area such as biomaterials.

     

Imitation of drug metabolism in human liver and cytotoxicity assay using a microfluidic device coupled to mass spectrometric detection

In this work, we developed a microfluidic device for the imitation of drug metabolism in human liver and its cytotoxicity on cells. The integrated microfluidic device consists of three sections: (1) bioreactors containing poly(ethylene) glycol (PEG) hydrogel encapsulated human liver microsomes (HLMs); (2) cell culture chambers for cytotoxicity assay; and (3) integrated micro solid-phase extraction (SPE) columns to desalt and concentrate the products of enzymatic reaction. To verify the feasibility of the integrated microchip, we studied uridine 5'-diphosphate-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) metabolism of acetaminophen (AP) and the cytotoxicity of products on HepG2 cells. The products of the reaction in one region of the device were injected into the cell culture chamber for cytotoxicity assay, while those in another region were directly detected online with an electrospray ionization quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ESI-Q-TOF MS) after micro-SPE pre-treatment. Semiquantitative analysis achieved in the experiments could be related to the drug-induced HepG2 cell cytotoxicity. Total analysis time for one product was about 30 min and only less than 4 μg HLM protein was required for one reaction region. The results demonstrated that the established platform could be used to imitate drug metabolism occurring in the human liver, thereby replacing animal experiments in the near future. In addition, the integrated microchip will be a useful tool for drug metabolism studies and cytotoxicity assays, which are pivotal in drug development.     

Measurements of scattered light on a microchip flow cytometer with integrated polymer based optical elements

Flow cytometry is widely used for analyzing microparticles, such as cells and bacteria. In this paper, we report an innovative microsystem, in which several different optical elements (waveguides, lens and fiber-to-waveguide couplers) are integrated with microfluidic channels to form a complete microchip flow cytometer. All the optical elements, the microfluidic system, and the fiber-to-waveguide couplers were defined in one layer of polymer (SU-8, negative photoresist) by standard photolithography. With only a single mask procedure required, all the fabrication and packaging processes can be finished in one day. Polystyrene beads were measured in the microchip flow cytometer, and three signals (forward scattering, large angle scattering and extinction) were measured simultaneously for each bead. To our knowledge this is the first time forward scattered light and incident light extinction were measured in a microsystem using integrated optics. The microsystem can be applied for analyzing different kinds of particles and cells, and can easily be integrated with other microfluidic components.     

Microbioassay system for an anti-cancer agent test using animal cells on a microfluidic gradient mixer.

We developed a novel microbioassay system equipped with a gradient mixer of two solutions, and we applied the microfluidic system to an anti-cancer agent test using living animal cells on a microchip. A microchannel for the gradient mixing of two solutions and eight other microchannels for cell assay were fabricated on a poly(dimethylsiloxane) substrate using a soft-lithography method. The functions necessary for this bioassay, i.e., cell culturing, chemical stimulation, cell staining, and fluorescence determination, were integrated into the microfluidic chip. Eight gradient concentrations of the fluorescein solution, ranging from 1 to 98 microg/ml, were archived at 0.1 microl/min on a microchip. A stomach cancer cell line was cultured, and a cell viability assay was conducted using 5-Fluorouracil as an anti-cancer agent on the microchip. Cell viability changed according to the estimated concentration of the agent solution. With the microbioassay system, an anti-cancer agent test was conducted using living cells simultaneously in eight individual channels with the gradient concentration of the agent on a microchip.     

Co‐crystals with Acetylene: Small Is not Simple!

Acetylene is an amazingly versatile component for the formation of co‐crystals. It requires careful handling and special techniques for crystallisation, but the efforts seem to be rewarding when attaining co‐crystals with small molecules as partners. Many basic questions such as the dominance of specific heterogeneous intermolecular interactions, their driving force for the formation of multicomponent crystals instead of neat ones are expected to be easily analysed. The underlying packing patterns and resulting stoichiometries based on the known supramolecular synthons seem to be straightforward for such small molecules and crystal engineering, considered as the prototype of supramolecular synthesis, should be a simple task. Nineteen co‐crystals with acetylene are presented in this paper, some of which have been previously reported individually. An attempt has been made to find features shared by the groups of co‐crystals, including those that could not be co‐crystallised. But in spite of clear ideas and experiences from previous experiments, surprisingly almost none of systems reached our expectations. Our intuitive approach was not fulfilled, which demonstrates that multicomponent crystals even of small molecules will remain a great challenge for theoretical methods and the crystal structures shown herein represent good candidates for future testing. On the other hand, we wish to encourage other groups to present their views on the crystal structures with an unbiased approach that may offer a better explanation than we are able to outline in this article.     

Chitosan microfiber fabrication using microfluidic chips of different sheath channel angles and its application on cell culture

In this study, we successfully produced the chitosan microfibers using the proposed various angles of microfluidic chip, which was also been simulated. By controlling the core and sheath flow rates, we were able to generate laminar flow of different diameters from 15 μm to 40 μm. And the diameter of chitosan microfiber was measured from 20 μm to 50 μm. The microchannel of angle 30° could produce chitosan laminar flow of a smaller diameter than the angle 60° and angle 45° at the fixed flow rates. Finally, the chitosan microfiber was chosen as scaffold and the schwann cell and fibroblast cell with chitosan microfibers were used for cell culture to test effect in tissue engineering application.     

Skin‐worn Soft Microfluidic Potentiometric Detection System

A flexible skin‐mounted microfluidic potentiometric device for simultaneous electrochemical monitoring of sodium and potassium in sweat is presented. The wearable device allows efficient natural sweat pumping to the potentiometric detection chamber, containing solid‐contact ion‐selective Na⁺ and K⁺ electrodes, during exercise activity. The fabricated microchip electrolyte‐sensing device displays good analytical performance and addresses sweat mixing and carry‐over issues of early epidermal potentiometric sensors. Such soft skin‐worn microchip platform integrates potentiometric measurement, microfluidic technologies with flexible electronics for real‐time wireless data transmission to mobile devices. The new fully integrated microfluidic electrolyte‐detection device paves the way for practical fitness and health monitoring applications.     

聚二甲基硅氧烷-纸复合微流控芯片上的肝癌细胞三维培养

研发了一种聚二甲基硅氧烷-纸复合型微流控芯片用于肝癌细胞三维培养.芯片使用明胶处理硝酸纤维素薄膜作为细胞培养基底,以水凝胶网格作为三维培养支撑.结合微通道主动灌流与水凝胶中的被动扩散,模拟体内的流体运输形式实现细胞与外界物质交换.实验结果显示,芯片上的液滴生成以及细胞定位种植简便可靠.连续监测显示肝癌HcpG2细胞在水凝胶微球中增殖形成类似组织的三维结构.细胞增殖动力学分析以及生化检测结果显示了芯片三维培养与二维培养的差别.这种芯片三维细胞培养方法操作简便可靠,仿真度高,适合于肿瘤细胞研究.     

Design of parallel microfluidic gradient-generating networks for studying cellular response to chemical stimuli

A microfluidic chip featuring laminar flow-based parallel gradient-generating networks was designed and fabricated. The microchip contains 5 gradient generators and 30 cell chambers where the resulting concentration gradients of drugs are delivered to stimulate on-chip cultured cells. The microfluidics exploits the advantage of lab-on-a-chip technology by integrating the generation of drug concentration gradients and a series of cell operations including seeding, culture, stimulation and staining into a chip. The microfluidic network was patterned on a glass wafer, which was further bonded to a PDMS film. A series of weir structures were fabricated on the cell culture reservoir to facilitate cell positioning and seeding. Cell injection and fluid delivery were controlled by a syringe pump. Steady parallel concentration gradients were generated by flowing two fluids in each network. Over time observation shows that the microchip was suitable for cell seeding and culture. The microchip described above was applied in studying the role of reduced glutathione (GSH) in mediating chemotherapy sensitivity of MCF-7 cells. MCF-7 cells were treated with concentration gradients of As₂O₃ and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) for GSH modulation, followed by exposure to adriamycin. GSH levels were down-regulated upon As₂O₃ treatment and up-regulated upon NAC treatment. Suppression of intracellular GSH by treatment with As₂O₃ has been shown to increase sensitivity to adriamycin. Conversely, elevation of intracellular GSH by treatment with NAC leads to increased drug resistance. The integrated microfluidic chip is able to perform multiparametric pharmacological profiling with easy operation, and thus holds great potential for extrapolation to the cell based high-content drug screening. __________ Translated from Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry, 2008, 36(2): 143–149     

Cellulose-based hydrogels with excellent microstructural replication ability and cytocompatibility for microfluidic devices

In the face of challenges in the development of excellent biocompatible materials for microfluidic device fabrication, we demonstrated that cross-linked cellulose (RCC) hydrogel can be used as the bulk material for microchips. The cellulose hydrogel was prepared from cellulose solution dissolved in an 8 wt% LiOH/15 wt% urea aqueous system with cooling by crosslinking with epichlorohydrin. Collagen as a key extracellular matrix component for promoting cell cultivation was cross-linked in the cellulose hydrogel to obtain cellulose–collagen (RCC/C) hybrid hydrogels. The experimental results revealed that cellulose-based hydrogel microchips with well-defined 2D or 3D microstructures possessed excellent structural replication ability, good mechanical properties, and cytocompatibility for cell culture as well as excellent dimensional stability at elevated temperature. The hydrogel, as a transparent microchip material, had no effect on the fluorescence behaviors of FITC-dextran and rhodamine-dextran, leading to the good conjunction with fluorescent detection and imaging. Moreover, collagen could be immobilized in the RCC/C hydrogel scaffold for promoting cell growth and generating stable chemical concentration gradients, leading to superior cytocompatibility. This work provides new hydrogel materials for the microfluidic technology field and mimicks a 3D cell culture microenvironment for cell-based tissue engineering and drug screening.     

On‐line coupled capillary isotachophoresis‐capillary zone electrophoresis in hydrodynamically closed separation system hyphenated with laser induced fluorescence detection

An analytical method, based on a column coupling capillary ITP and CZE in a hydrodynamically closed separation mode hyphenated with the detection in the modular arrangement, was developed in this work. Analytical possibilities of this approach are demonstrated on the direct and ultrasensitive quantitative determination of quinine (QUI) in diluted real multicomponent ionic matrices (beverages, urine). The detection cell interface, with the rectangular arrangement of the optical channels inside, connected the separation capillary with the LIF detector via optical fibers in the on‐column detection arrangement. ITP enabled the direct large volume (30 μL) injections of the diluted real matrices with an on‐line sample pretreatment (preseparation, preconcentration) so that no external sample preparation (except for the dilution) was necessary for the separation of the analyte in the multicomponent ionic matrices. Due to the ITP sample preconcentration and intrinsic sensitivity of the LIF detection, very low concentration LOD (as low as 77 pg/mL), were reached at the same time. This was ca. two orders lower than the corresponding LOD achieved by the same 2D separation system with UV absorbance detection. Compared to the single column CE‐LIF methods applied for this model analyte and matrix, this method was found to be superior in terms of concentration LOD, with acceptable selectivity and benefits of the on‐line sample preparation. A food control and bioanalytical application clearly illustrates great practical possibilities and routine use of the proposed modular ITP–CZE–LIF technique.     

An on-chip intestine-liver model for multiple drugs absorption and metabolism behavior simulation

A double-layer microfluidic chip integrated with a hollow fiber(HF)was developed to reconstitute the intestine-liver functionality for studying the absorption and metabolism of combination drugs.Caco-2 cells were inoculated in the HF cavity at the top of the serpentine channel to simulate the intestinal tissue for drug absorption and transport studied,and Hep G2 cells,seeded in the bottom chamber,were used to mimic the liver for metabolism-related studies.Genistein and dacarbazine were selected for combination drug therapy and its effects on cell viability,hepatotoxicity,and cell cycle arrest under drug-conditioned culture were investigated.The results suggested that the combined concentration below-100μg/m L had no significant inhibitory effect on Hep G2 cell viability,and therefore Hep G2 cells maintained their drug metabolism ability.When the drug concentration was increased above 250μg/m L,Hep G2 cells underwent apoptosis.Detection of metabolites by mass spectrometry proved the effective metabolism in the microchip model.This dynamic,co-culture microchip successfully provided a podium for long-term observation of absorption,transport,and metabolism of combination drugs,and could be an effective in vitro simulation model for further clinical research.     

A simple, disposable microfluidic device for rapid protein concentration and purification via direct-printing

A facile and disposable microfluidic device for rapid protein concentration was fabricated by using a direct printing process. Two printed V-shaped microchannels in mirror image orientation were separated by a 100 mum wide toner gap. When a high electric field was applied across the two channels, nanofissures were formed by electric breakdown at the junction toner gap. This microfluidic device with nanofissures was used as a concentrator for protein. Negatively charged proteins were observed to concentrate at the anode side of the nanofissures upon application of an electric field across this junction. Using this device, about 10(3)-10(5)-fold protein concentration was achieved within 10 min. Systematic investigation showed that the concentration mechanism could be explained by the ion exclusion-enrichment effect of the nanofissures. In addition, the present microchip device integrated both functions of concentration and purification were confirmed. This simple on chip protein preconcentration and purification device could be a disposable sample preparation component in printed microfluidic systems used for practical biochemical assays.     

Microfluidic chips for mass spectrometry‐based proteomics

Microfluidic devices coupled to mass spectrometers have emerged as excellent tools for solving the complex analytical challenges associated with the field of proteomics. Current proteome identification procedures are accomplished through a series of steps that require many hours of labor‐intensive work. Microfluidics can play an important role in proteomic sample preparation steps prior to mass spectral identification such as sample cleanup, digestion, and separations due to its ability to handle small sample quantities with the potential for high‐throughput parallel analysis. To utilize microfluidic devices for proteomic analysis, an efficient interface between the microchip and the mass spectrometer is required. This tutorial provides an overview of the technologies and applications of microfluidic chips coupled to mass spectrometry for proteome analysis. Various approaches for combining microfluidic devices with electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) are summarized and applications of chip‐based separations and digestion technologies to proteomic analysis are presented. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.