Key Laboratory for Micro/Nano Technology and System of Liaoning Province, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116023, P. R. China.
Lab Chip. 2017 Nov 7;17(22):3921-3933. doi: 10.1039/c7lc00343a.
The leaf venation is considered to be an optimal transportation system with the mesophyll cells being divided by minor veins into small regions named areoles. The transpiration of water in different regions of a leaf fluctuates over time making the transportation of water in veins fluctuate as well. However, because of the existence of multiple paths provided by the leaf venation network and the pits on the walls of the vessels, the pressure field and nutrient concentration in the areoles that the mesophyll cells live in are almost uniform. Therefore, inspired by such structures, a microfluidic design of a novel cell culture chamber has been proposed to obtain a stable and uniform microenvironment. The device consists of a novel microchannel system imitating the vessels in the leaf venation to transport the culture medium, a cell culture chamber imitating the areole and microgaps imitating the pits. The effects of the areole and pit on flow fields in the cell culture chamber have been discussed. The results indicate that the bio-inspired microfluidic device is a robust platform to provide an in vivo like fluidic microenvironment.
叶脉被认为是一种最优运输系统，其中叶肉细胞被小脉分成称为气腔的小区域。叶片不同区域的水分蒸腾会随时间波动，从而导致叶脉中的水分运输也随之波动。然而，由于叶脉网络和导管壁上的小孔提供了多个路径，气腔中气腔中生活的叶肉细胞的压力场和营养浓度几乎是均匀的。因此，受这种结构的启发，提出了一种新型细胞培养室的微流控设计，以获得稳定和均匀的微环境。该装置由一个模仿叶脉中的血管来输送培养基的新型微通道系统、一个模仿气腔的细胞培养室和模仿小孔的微间隙组成。讨论了气腔和小孔对细胞培养室内流场的影响。结果表明，这种基于仿生学的微流控装置是提供类似于体内的流体微环境的稳健平台。
