Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2010 Oct;20(5):640-7. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2010.07.011. Epub 2010 Aug 23.
The precise spatial and temporal control afforded by microfluidic devices make them uniquely suited as experimental tools for cellular neuroscience. Micro-structures have been developed to direct the placement of cells and small organisms within a device. Microfluidics can precisely define pharmacological microenvironments, mimicking conditions found in vivo with the advantage of defined parameters which are usually difficult to control and manipulate in vivo. These devices are compatible with high-resolution microscopy, are simple to assemble, and are reproducible. In this review we will focus on microfluidic devices that have recently been developed for small, whole organisms such as C. elegans and dissociated cultured neurons. These devices have improved control over the placement of cells or organisms and allowed unprecedented experimental access, enabling novel investigations in neurobiology.
微流控设备提供的精确时空控制使它们成为细胞神经科学实验工具的理想选择。已经开发出微结构来引导细胞和小型生物在设备中的放置。微流控可以精确定义药理学微环境，模拟体内条件，具有体内通常难以控制和操作的定义参数的优势。这些设备与高分辨率显微镜兼容，易于组装，且可重复使用。在本综述中，我们将重点介绍最近为小型完整生物体（如秀丽隐杆线虫和分离培养神经元）开发的微流控设备。这些设备提高了对细胞或生物体放置的控制能力，并提供了前所未有的实验途径，使神经生物学的新研究成为可能。
