Li Xiujun James, Valadez Alejandra V, Zuo Peng, Nie Zhihong
Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at El Paso, 500 West University Ave, El Paso, TX 79968, USA.
Bioanalysis. 2012 Jun;4(12):1509-25. doi: 10.4155/bio.12.133.
Current fundamental investigations of human biology and the development of therapeutic drugs commonly rely on 2D monolayer cell culture systems. However, 2D cell culture systems do not accurately recapitulate the structure, function or physiology of living tissues, nor the highly complex and dynamic 3D environments in vivo. Microfluidic technology can provide microscale complex structures and well-controlled parameters to mimic the in vivo environment of cells. The combination of microfluidic technology with 3D cell culture offers great potential for in vivo-like tissue-based applications, such as the emerging organ-on-a-chip system. This article will review recent advances in the microfluidic technology for 3D cell culture and their biological applications.
当前，人类生物学的基础研究以及治疗药物的开发通常依赖于二维单层细胞培养系统。然而，二维细胞培养系统无法准确重现活组织的结构、功能或生理学特征，也无法模拟体内高度复杂且动态的三维环境。微流控技术能够提供微观尺度的复杂结构和精确可控的参数，以模拟细胞的体内环境。微流控技术与三维细胞培养相结合，在类体内组织应用方面具有巨大潜力，比如新兴的芯片器官系统。本文将综述用于三维细胞培养的微流控技术及其生物学应用的最新进展。
