With the advent of microfluidic technology, methods of cell culture are meeting a technological revolution. A variety of unique advantages of microfluidic chips provides cell culture more possibilities. As a professional microfluidic chip development services provider, Creative Biolabs also keeps our eyes on microfluidic chip-based cell culture. With an advanced technology platform and rich experience, we are confident in providing high-quality microfluidic chip development services for cell culture.
Microfluidics Chip and Cell Culture
There is an immediate need to develop reliable tissue models for pre-clinical research. It costs $2.5 billion and 10-15 years on average to bring a drug to market. To decrease drug development costs, it is critical to improving pre-clinical screenings' predictive power for excluding ineffective/toxic candidates as early as possible. Currently, the typical workflow in pre-clinical tests is to screen drug candidates on statically cultured cells followed by animal (e.g., rodent) experiments. However, both models have inherent limitations. In this context, microfluidic technologies-based cell culture is born as a new platform in a more physiologically relevant manner. Microfluidics is devices with mm-scale fluidic channels for controlled flow in small volumes (mL). These cell-laden microfluidic devices are often referred to as organs-on-a-chip. This technology can overcome the limitations of both static cell cultures and animal studies.
Advantages of Microfluidics-based Cell Culture Platform
The inherent continuous flow in microfluidic devices enables continuous nutrient/oxygen supply and waste removal to maintain a stable growth environment for cells therein.
Flow manipulation can apply desired gradients to the cells, which is especially useful for dosing studies.
The laminar flow in microfluidic channels can mimic blood physics in capillaries shear stress can be introduced, and multiple cell types can be connected for inter-tissue modeling.
Human cells are commonly used to obviate the inter-species discrepancy of animal models.
With precise engineering, studying a single factor is more feasible with organs-on-a-chip than with animals.
Application of Microfluidic Chip in Cell Culture
Single cell culture
Microfluidics is a technique to handle small volumes, such as nanoliters to femtoliters, and it has been demonstrated to be a very powerful tool for single cell culture. Different from bottles or flasks, which typically handle milliliter to liter volumes, microfluidic systems can scale down the volume by many orders of magnitude to the nanoliter or below the nanoliter scale. This makes high-throughput single cell culture possible. In addition, microfluidic systems with different operation mechanisms can also manipulate biological and chemical components, which enables the manipulation of the microenvironment for cell growth. Furthermore, microfluidic systems are also capable of splitting cultured cells for downstream analysis with multiple tools.
Fig. 1 Microfluidic cell culture.1
Suspension Culture
Digital microfluidics (DMF) is, at heart, a technique that is used to manipulate droplets of liquid, so it is well suited for cells that grow while suspended in THE liquid culture medium. Hence, no modification is required to manipulate suspended mammalian cells and other microorganisms that are commonly cultured in suspension (e.g., bacteria, algae, yeast). Cells suspended inside droplets may be further sorted or manipulated by the use of electrical, optical, or magnetic forces.
Services at Creative Biolabs
With years of experience focusing on the field of microfluidic chip development, Creative Biolabs has accumulated extensive experience from step-by-step practice. During this long period of exploration and growth, we have gradually optimized our technology platform and organized a staff of excellent experts specialized in microfluidic and cell culture. We are dedicated to supporting cell culture services by developing high-quality microfluidic chips. If you are looking for a novel method to tackle your difficulties in cell culture, please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information.
Reference
Perastrelo, Aguas, et al. " Microfluidic Organ/Body-on-a-Chip Devices at the Convergence of Biology and Microengineering." Sensors 15.12 (2015): 31142-31170.
Q&As
Q: What advantages do microfluidic chips offer for cell culture?
A: Microfluidic chips offer several advantages, including continuous nutrient and oxygen supply, waste removal, and the ability to apply controlled gradients for dosing studies. They also enable high-throughput screening and better mimic physiological conditions, improving the relevance of preclinical testing.
Q: How does a 3D cell culture differ from a 2D culture?
A: A 3D cell culture better mimics the in vivo environment by allowing cells to grow in all directions, similar to natural tissue. This provides more accurate results in drug screening and toxicity studies compared to the flat, two-dimensional growth in traditional 2D cultures.
Q: What is the role of flow in microfluidic cell culture systems?
A: Flow in microfluidic systems ensures continuous nutrient supply and waste removal, maintaining a stable growth environment. It can also create shear stress and apply gradients, which are essential for studying cell responses under dynamic conditions.
Q: What challenges are associated with microfluidic cell culture?
A: Challenges include managing air bubbles and leakage, which can disrupt experiments. Proper setup and operation of flow systems are crucial, and practical issues such as maintaining stable flow rates and avoiding contamination must be addressed.
Q: Why is continuous nutrient supply important in cell culture?
A: Continuous nutrient supply ensures that cells receive a steady flow of essential nutrients and oxygen while removing waste products. This maintains cell health and growth, leading to more consistent and reliable experimental results.
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Fig. 1 Microfluidic cell culture.1
