Che Xiangchen, Nuhn Jacob, Schneider Ian, Que Long
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Iowa State University; Ames, IA 50011, USA.
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Iowa State University; Ames, IA 50011, USA.
Micromachines (Basel). 2016 May 5;7(5):84. doi: 10.3390/mi7050084.
Arrayed three-dimensional (3D) micro-sized tissues with encapsulated cells (microtissues) have been fabricated by a droplet microfluidic chip. The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a polymerized collagen network. One or multiple breast cancer cells were embedded within the microtissues, which were stored in arrayed microchambers on the same chip without ECM droplet shrinkage over 48 h. The migration trajectory of the cells was recorded by optical microscopy. The migration speed was calculated in the range of 3⁻6 µm/h. Interestingly, cells in devices filled with a continuous collagen network migrated faster than those where only droplets were arrayed in the chambers. This is likely due to differences in the length scales of the ECM network, as cells embedded in thin collagen slabs also migrate slower than those in thick collagen slabs. In addition to migration, this technical platform can be potentially used to study cancer cell-stromal cell interactions and ECM remodeling in 3D tumor-mimicking environments.
通过液滴微流控芯片制备了带有封装细胞的阵列三维（3D）微尺寸组织（微组织）。细胞外基质（ECM）是一个聚合的胶原蛋白网络。一个或多个乳腺癌细胞被嵌入微组织中，这些微组织被储存在同一芯片上的阵列微腔中，在48小时内没有ECM液滴收缩。通过光学显微镜记录细胞的迁移轨迹。迁移速度在3⁻6 µm/h范围内计算得出。有趣的是，填充有连续胶原蛋白网络的装置中的细胞比那些仅在腔室中排列液滴的装置中的细胞迁移得更快。这可能是由于ECM网络长度尺度的差异，因为嵌入薄胶原蛋白平板中的细胞也比厚胶原蛋白平板中的细胞迁移得慢。除了迁移，这个技术平台还可以潜在地用于研究3D肿瘤模拟环境中的癌细胞-基质细胞相互作用和ECM重塑。
