Lab-on-a-chip for studying growing pollen tubes.

A major limitation in the study of pollen tube growth has been the difficulty in providing an in vitro testing microenvironment that physically resembles the in vivo conditions. Here we describe the development of a lab-on-a-chip (LOC) for the manipulation and experimental testing of individual pollen tubes. The design was specifically tailored to pollen tubes from Camellia japonica, but it can be easily adapted for any other species. The platform is fabricated from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using a silicon/SU-8 mold and makes use of microfluidics to distribute pollen grains to serially arranged microchannels. The tubes are guided into these channels where they can be tested individually. The microfluidic platform allows for specific testing of a variety of growth behavioral features as demonstrated with a simple mechanical obstacle test, and it permits the straightforward integration of further single-cell test assays.