Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Pathology, School of Basic Medical Science, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410013, China.
Analyst. 2021 Jan 21;146(2):454-462. doi: 10.1039/d0an02139c. Epub 2021 Jan 4.
Neuronal cell microengineering involving micropatterning and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microfluidics enables promising advances in microscale neuron control. However, a facile methodology for the precise and effective manipulation of neurons on a cell-repellent PDMS substrate remains challenging. Herein, a simple and straightforward strategy for neuronal cell patterning and neuronal network construction on PDMS based on microfluidics-assisted modification of functionalized Pluronic is described. The cell patterning process simply involves a one-step microfluidic modification and routine in vitro culture. It is demonstrated that multiple types of neuronal cell arrangements with various spatial profiles can be conveniently produced using this patterning tool. The precise control of neuronal cells with high patterning fidelity up to single cell resolution, as well as high adhesion and differentiation, is achieved too. Furthermore, neuronal network construction using the respective cell population and single cell patterning prove to be applicable. This achievement provides a convenient and feasible methodology for engineering neuronal cells on PDMS substrates, which will be useful for applications in many neuron-related microscale analytical research fields, including cell engineering, neurobiology, neuropharmacology, and neuronal sensing.
神经元细胞微工程学涉及微图案化和聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）微流控技术，为微尺度神经元控制带来了有前景的进展。然而，在细胞排斥 PDMS 基底上精确有效地操纵神经元仍然具有挑战性。本文描述了一种基于微流控辅助修饰功能化 Pluronic 的简单、直接的策略，用于在 PDMS 上进行神经元细胞图案化和神经元网络构建。细胞图案化过程仅涉及一步微流控修饰和常规的体外培养。结果表明，使用这种图案化工具可以方便地产生具有各种空间轮廓的多种类型的神经元细胞排列。还实现了对神经元细胞的精确控制，具有高达单细胞分辨率的高图案保真度以及高粘附性和分化性。此外，使用各自的细胞群体和单细胞图案化构建神经元网络也是可行的。这一成果为在 PDMS 基底上工程神经元细胞提供了一种方便、可行的方法，这将有助于许多与神经元相关的微尺度分析研究领域的应用，包括细胞工程、神经生物学、神经药理学和神经元传感。
