Lim Min-Cheol, Kim Tai-Yong, Ok Gyeongsik, Kim Hyun Jung, Choi Yun-Sang, Kim Young-Rok
Research Group of Food Safety and Distribution, Korea Food Research Institute (KFRI), Wanju 55365, Republic of Korea.
Department of Food Biotechnology, Korea University of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea.
Micromachines (Basel). 2024 Dec 14;15(12):1496. doi: 10.3390/mi15121496.
This study introduces a novel method for the fabrication of concave microwells involving water vapor permeation through polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). This method leverages the exceptional water vapor permeability of PDMS to enable a scalable and cost-effective fabrication process, addressing the limitations of existing techniques such as photolithography that are resource-intensive and complex. PDMS is more permeable to water vapor than to other gas molecules, resulting in the formation of microwells. Smooth-sloped concave microwells are formed by depositing droplets of 10% ethylene glycol on a PDMS substrate followed by curing at 70 °C and evaporation of water vapor. These microwells exhibit a unique structural gradient that is highly conducive for biological applications. Concave microwells were further used as a platform to generate animal cell spheroids, demonstrating their potential for three-dimensional cell culture. Unlike conventional methods, this approach allows precise control over microwell morphology by simply adjusting droplet size and curing conditions, offering enhanced tunability and reproducibility. The formation yield of these microwells is dependent on the volume of the water droplets, demonstrating the importance of droplet size in controlling microwell morphology. This approach provides a simple and effective method for creating microwells without complex lithographic processes, making it a highly promising tool for a range of biomedical applications, including tissue engineering, cancer research, and high-throughput drug screening.
本研究介绍了一种制造凹形微孔的新方法，该方法涉及水蒸气透过聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）。此方法利用了PDMS卓越的水蒸气渗透性，以实现可扩展且经济高效的制造工艺，解决了诸如光刻等现有技术资源密集且复杂的局限性。PDMS对水蒸气的渗透性比对其他气体分子的渗透性更强，从而导致微孔的形成。通过在PDMS基板上沉积10%的乙二醇液滴，然后在70°C下固化并使水蒸气蒸发，形成了光滑倾斜的凹形微孔。这些微孔呈现出独特的结构梯度，非常有利于生物应用。凹形微孔进一步用作生成动物细胞球体的平台，证明了它们在三维细胞培养中的潜力。与传统方法不同, 这种方法通过简单地调节液滴大小和固化条件，就可以对微孔形态进行精确控制，具有更高的可调性和可重复性。这些微孔的形成产率取决于水滴的体积，这表明液滴大小在控制微孔形态方面的重要性。这种方法提供了一种无需复杂光刻工艺即可创建微孔的简单有效方法，使其成为一系列生物医学应用（包括组织工程、癌症研究和高通量药物筛选）中极具前景的工具。
