Manufacturing of Foil-based Microfluidic Chips for Neuron Cell Culture and Axon Outgrowth Monitoring
Nihan Atak,
PhD student / Presenting Author,
Joanneum Research
There are some examples of microfluidic based neural axon outgrowth devices provide a good model for several applications e.g., drug screening. However, challenges around the large-scale manufacturing of the PDMS devices is still to be overcome. The challenge was addressed by using roll-to-roll (R2R)-based manufacturing processes that allow realizing microfluidic channels on transparent substrates.
The microfluidic design consists of two main channels (100 µm depth) separated by a wall that integrates a microchannels array (15 µm x 10 µm x 400 µm (WxDxL)). This array provides fluidic connection between the main channels and is used to monitor axon outgrowth. The main channels are mainly used to seed the cells and drugs.
To produce the master, standard photolithography was used to achieve two different depths with a single step (Fig.1). From the master structure, a negative polymer shim was made and used for large-scale replication by means of R2R UV Nano imprint lithography (UV-NIL) technology.
Initial cell culture tests using PC12 neuroblastoma cells inside these devices indicate that the cells can survive and proliferate for up to 18 days without significant differences when compared to the control method (Fig. 2a). Axon outgrowth was also observed inside the microchannels (Fig 2b), indicating the suitability of our devices to perform these kind of assays.
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