Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington , Arlington, Texas 76019, USA.
Biomicrofluidics. 2015 Apr 16;9(2):024116. doi: 10.1063/1.4918377. eCollection 2015 Mar.
Electro wetting-on-dielectric (EWOD) digital microfluidics (DMF) can be used to develop improved chemical screening platforms using 3-dimensional (3D) cell culture. Alginate hydrogels are one common method by which a 3D cell culture environment is created. This paper presents a study of alginate gelation on EWOD DMF and investigates designs to obtain uniform alginate hydrogels that can be repeatedly addressed by any desired liquids. A design which allows for gels to be retained in place during liquid delivery and removal without using any physical barriers or hydrophilic patterning of substrates is presented. A proof of concept screening platform is demonstrated by examining the effects of different concentrations of a test chemical on 3D cells in alginate hydrogels. In addition, the temporal effects of the various chemical concentrations on different hydrogel posts are demonstrated, thereby establishing the benefits of an EWOD DMF 3D cell culture and chemical screening platform using alginate hydrogels.
电润湿在电介质上（EWOD）数字微流控（DMF）可用于开发使用 3 维（3D）细胞培养的改进的化学筛选平台。藻酸盐水凝胶是创建 3D 细胞培养环境的一种常见方法。本文研究了 EWOD DMF 上的藻酸盐胶凝作用，并研究了设计方案，以获得可被任何所需液体重复寻址的均匀藻酸盐水凝胶。提出了一种设计方案，允许在液体输送和去除过程中凝胶保留在原位，而无需使用任何物理屏障或亲水性基底图案化。通过检查不同浓度的测试化学物质对藻酸盐水凝胶中 3D 细胞的影响，演示了概念验证筛选平台。此外，还展示了不同化学浓度对不同水凝胶柱的时间效应，从而确立了使用藻酸盐水凝胶的 EWOD DMF 3D 细胞培养和化学筛选平台的优势。
