Le Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Trinh Kieu The Loan, Lee Nae Yoon
Department of BioNano Technology, Gachon University, 1342 Seongnam-daero, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 13120, Republic of Korea.
Department of Industrial Environmental Engineering, Gachon University, 1342 Seongnam-daero, Sujeong-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 13120, Republic of Korea.
Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2021 Mar;122:111874. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2021.111874. Epub 2021 Jan 8.
In this study, we introduced a novel adhesion bonding method for fabricating thermoplastic microdevices using poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) as a UV-assisted adhesion promoter. The bonding mechanism was based on the covalent cross-links between poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and PAA via the free radicals in their carbon backbone generated under UV irradiation. The water contact angle and Fourier-transformed infrared (FTIR) analysis were performed to analyze the surface characteristics of the PAA-coated PMMA. PMMAs were bonded under UV treatment for 60 s with the highest bond strength of around 1.18 MPa. The PMMA microdevice was leak-proof for over 200 h. Besides, clog-free PMMA microdevices with various-sizes microchannels were performed to demonstrate such a high applicable bonding method for microdevice fabrication. Moreover, PMMAs were bonded with other thermoplastics with a bond strength of around 0.5 MPa. Notably, collagen was easily coated inside the PMMA microchannels via electrostatic interaction between PAA and collagen which is beneficial for on-device cell culture. As a result, a layered co-culture model of smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was realized inside simple straight microchannels mimicking human blood vessel wall. Therefore, the introduced bonding method could pave the way for fabricating microdevice for cell-related applications.
在本研究中，我们引入了一种新型的粘附键合方法，用于制造热塑性微器件，该方法使用聚丙烯酸（PAA）作为紫外线辅助粘附促进剂。键合机制基于聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（PMMA）和PAA之间通过紫外线照射下在其碳主链中产生的自由基形成的共价交联。进行了水接触角和傅里叶变换红外（FTIR）分析，以分析涂覆有PAA的PMMA的表面特性。PMMA在紫外线处理60秒的条件下进行键合，最高键合强度约为1.18MPa。PMMA微器件在200多个小时内保持防漏。此外，还制作了具有各种尺寸微通道的无堵塞PMMA微器件，以证明这种用于微器件制造的高适用性键合方法。此外，PMMA与其他热塑性塑料键合，键合强度约为0.5MPa。值得注意的是，通过PAA与胶原蛋白之间的静电相互作用，胶原蛋白很容易被涂覆在PMMA微通道内部，这有利于在器件上进行细胞培养。结果，在模拟人体血管壁的简单直微通道内实现了平滑肌细胞（SMC）和人脐静脉内皮细胞（HUVEC）的分层共培养模型。因此，所引入的键合方法可为制造与细胞相关应用的微器件铺平道路。
