Kim Young Kwon, Park Ju An, Yoon Woong Hee, Kim Joonwon, Jung Sungjune
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology , 77 Cheongam-Ro, Nam-Gu, Pohang 37673, South Korea.
Department of Creative IT Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology , 77 Cheongam-Ro, Nam-Gu, Pohang 37673, South Korea.
Biomicrofluidics. 2016 Nov 30;10(6):064110. doi: 10.1063/1.4968845. eCollection 2016 Nov.
We present drop-on-demand inkjet-based mammalian cell printing with a 30-m nozzle diameter for cell-level accuracy. High-speed imaging techniques have been used to analyze the go-and-stop movement of cells inside the nozzle under a pulsed pressure generated by a piezo-actuator and the jet formation after ejection. Patterning of an array of 20 × 20 dots on a glass substrate reveals that each printed drop contains 1.30 cells on average at the cell concentration of 5.0 × 10 cells ml for the very small nozzle, whereas larger nozzles with the diameter of 50 and 80 m deliver 2.57 and 2.88 cells per drop, respectively. The effects of the size and concentration of printed cells on the number of cells have also been investigated. Furthermore, the effect of the nozzle diameter on printed cells has been evaluated through an examination of viability, proliferation, and morphology of cells by using a live/dead assay kit, CCK-8 assay, and cellular morphology imaging, respectively. We believe that the 30-m inkjet nozzle can be used for precise cell deposition without any damages to the printed mammalian cells.
我们展示了基于按需滴落式喷墨技术的哺乳动物细胞打印，其喷嘴直径为30微米，可实现细胞级精度。高速成像技术已被用于分析在压电致动器产生的脉冲压力下细胞在喷嘴内的启停运动以及喷射后的液滴形成。在玻璃基板上打印20×20点阵图案表明，对于这种非常小的喷嘴，在细胞浓度为5.0×10⁶个细胞/毫升时，每个打印液滴平均包含1.30个细胞，而直径为50微米和80微米的较大喷嘴每滴分别输送2.57个和2.88个细胞。还研究了打印细胞的大小和浓度对细胞数量的影响。此外，分别通过使用活/死检测试剂盒、CCK-8检测和细胞形态成像，对细胞活力、增殖和形态进行检测，评估了喷嘴直径对打印细胞的影响。我们相信，30微米的喷墨喷嘴可用于精确的细胞沉积，而不会对打印的哺乳动物细胞造成任何损伤。
