Biomedical Engineering and Biomechanics Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, P.R. China.
Biotechnol Bioeng. 2013 Mar;110(3):980-9. doi: 10.1002/bit.24764. Epub 2012 Nov 12.
Cell-laden microfluidic hydrogels find great potential applications in microfluidics, tissue engineering, and drug delivery, due to their ability to control mass transport and cell microenvironment. A variety of methods have been developed to fabricate hydrogels with microfluidic channels, such as molding, bioprinting, and photopatterning. However, the relatively simple structure available and the specific equipment required limit their broad applications in tissue engineering. Here, we developed a simple method to fabricate microfluidic hydrogels with helical microchannels based on a helical spring template. Results from both experimental investigation and numerical modeling revealed a significant enhancement on the perfusion ability and cell viability of helical microfluidic hydrogels compared to those with straight microchannels. The feasibility of such a helical spring template method was also demonstrated for microfluidic hydrogels with complex three-dimensional channel networks such as branched helical microchannels. The method presented here could potentially facilitate the development of vascular tissue engineering and cell microenvironment engineering.
载细胞微流控水凝胶由于能够控制质量传递和细胞微环境，在微流控、组织工程和药物输送等领域具有巨大的应用潜力。已经开发出多种制造带有微流道的水凝胶的方法，例如模塑、生物打印和光图案化。然而，可用的相对简单的结构和所需的特定设备限制了它们在组织工程中的广泛应用。在这里，我们开发了一种基于螺旋弹簧模板制造具有螺旋微通道的微流控水凝胶的简单方法。实验研究和数值模拟的结果表明，与具有直微通道的水凝胶相比，螺旋微流控水凝胶的灌注能力和细胞活力得到了显著提高。这种螺旋弹簧模板方法对于具有复杂三维通道网络（例如分支螺旋微通道）的微流控水凝胶也是可行的。这里提出的方法有可能促进血管组织工程和细胞微环境工程的发展。
