Liu Haiqiang, Yang Chen, Wang Bangbing
School of Mechanical Engineering, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou 310018, China.
School of Earth Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Micromachines (Basel). 2022 Nov 23;13(12):2050. doi: 10.3390/mi13122050.
A full PDMS micro-droplet chip for 3D cell culture was prepared by using SLA light-curing 3D printing technology. This technology can quickly customize various chips required for experiments, saving time and capital costs for experiments. Moreover, an injection molding method was used to prepare the full PDMS chip, and the convex mold was prepared by light-curing 3D printing technology. Compared with the traditional preparation process of micro-droplet chips, the use of 3D printing technology to prepare micro-droplet chips can save manufacturing and time costs. The different ratios of PDMS substrate and cover sheet and the material for making the convex mold can improve the bonding strength and power of the micro-droplet chip. Use the prepared micro-droplet chip to carry out micro-droplet forming and manipulation experiments. Aimed to the performance of the full PDMS micro-droplet chip in biological culture was verified by using a solution such as chondrocyte suspension, and the control of the micro-droplet was achieved by controlling the flow rate of the dispersed phase and continuous phase. Experimental verification shows that the designed chip can meet the requirements of experiments, and it can be observed that the micro-droplets of sodium alginate and the calcium chloride solution are cross-linked into microspheres with three-dimensional (3D) structures. These microspheres are fixed on a biological scaffold made of calcium silicate and polyvinyl alcohol. Subsequently, the state of the cells after different time cultures was observed, and it was observed that the chondrocytes grew well in the microsphere droplets. The proposed method has fine control over the microenvironment and accurate droplet size manipulation provided by fluid flow compared to existing studies.
采用SLA光固化3D打印技术制备了一种用于3D细胞培养的全PDMS微滴芯片。该技术能够快速定制实验所需的各种芯片，为实验节省时间和资金成本。此外，采用注射成型方法制备全PDMS芯片，并用光固化3D打印技术制备凸模。与传统的微滴芯片制备工艺相比，使用3D打印技术制备微滴芯片可节省制造和时间成本。PDMS基板与盖板的不同比例以及制作凸模的材料可提高微滴芯片的结合强度和性能。使用制备好的微滴芯片进行微滴形成和操控实验。通过使用软骨细胞悬液等溶液验证了全PDMS微滴芯片在生物培养中的性能，并通过控制分散相和连续相的流速实现了对微滴的控制。实验验证表明，所设计的芯片能够满足实验要求，并且可以观察到海藻酸钠微滴与氯化钙溶液交联形成具有三维（3D）结构的微球。这些微球固定在由硅酸钙和聚乙烯醇制成的生物支架上。随后，观察了不同培养时间后细胞的状态，发现软骨细胞在微球液滴中生长良好。与现有研究相比，所提出的方法对微环境具有良好的控制能力，并且通过流体流动能够精确操控液滴尺寸。
