School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China.
Tianjin Key Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Tianjin 300192, China.
ACS Nano. 2024 Mar 19;18(11):8168-8179. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.3c11946. Epub 2024 Mar 4.
Advancements in cell coculture systems with porous membranes have facilitated the simulation of human-like microenvironments for diverse biomedical applications. However, conventional Transwell membranes face limitations in low porosity (ca. 6%) and optical opacity due to their large thickness (ca. 10 μm). In this study, we demonstrated a one-step, large-scale fabrication of freestanding polymer ultrathin porous (PUP) membranes with thicknesses of hundreds of nanometers. PUP membranes were produced by using a gap-controlled bar-coating process combined with polymer blend phase separation. They are 20 times thinner than Transwell membranes, possessing 3-fold higher porosity and exhibiting high transparency. These membranes demonstrate outstanding molecular permeability and significantly reduce the cell-cell distance, thereby facilitating efficient signal exchange pathways between cells. This research enables the establishment of a cutting-edge cell coculture system, enhancing optical transparency, and streamlining the large-scale manufacturing of porous membranes.
多孔膜细胞共培养体系的进步促进了各种生物医学应用中类似人类微环境的模拟。然而，由于其较大的厚度（约 10μm），传统的 Transwell 膜在低孔隙率（约 6%）和光学不透明度方面存在局限性。在本研究中，我们展示了一种一步法、大规模制备具有数百纳米厚度的独立聚合物超薄多孔（PUP）膜的方法。通过使用间隙控制的棒涂工艺与聚合物共混相分离相结合，制备了 PUP 膜。它们比 Transwell 膜薄 20 倍，具有 3 倍的高孔隙率和高透明度。这些膜表现出优异的分子渗透性，并显著减小了细胞间的距离，从而促进了细胞间有效的信号交换途径。这项研究实现了一个先进的细胞共培养系统的建立，提高了光学透明度，并简化了多孔膜的大规模制造。
