Biological implications of polydimethylsiloxane-based microfluidic cell culture
Top Cited Papers
Open Access
- 4 June 2009
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in Lab on a Chip
- Vol. 9 (15), 2132-2139
- https://doi.org/10.1039/b903043c
Abstract
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) has become a staple of the microfluidics community by virtue of its simple fabrication process and material attributes, such as gas permeability, optical transparency, and flexibility. As microfluidic systems are put toward biological problems and increasingly utilized as cell culture platforms, the material properties of PDMS must be considered in a biological context. Two properties of PDMS were addressed in this study: the leaching of uncured oligomers from the polymer network into microchannel media, and the absorption of small, hydrophobic molecules (i.e.estrogen) from serum-containing media into the polymer bulk. Uncured PDMS oligomers were detectable viaMALDI-MS in microchannel media both before and after Soxhlet extraction of PDMS devices in ethanol. Additionally, PDMS oligomers were identified in the plasma membranes of NMuMG cells cultured in PDMS microchannels for 24 hours. Cells cultured in extracted microchannels also contained a detectable amount of uncured PDMS. It was shown that MCF-7 cells seeded directly on PDMS inserts were responsive to hydrophilic prolactin but not hydrophobic estrogen, reflecting its specificity for absorbing small, hydrophobic molecules; and the presence of PDMS floating in wells significantly reduced cellular response to estrogen in a serum-dependent manner. Quantification of estrogenvia ELISA revealed that microchannel estrogen partitioned rapidly into the surrounding PDMS to a ratio of approximately 9:1. Pretreatments such as blocking with serum or pre-absorbing estrogen for 24 hours did not affect estrogen loss from PDMS-based microchannels. These findings highlight the importance of careful consideration of culture system properties when determining an appropriate environment for biological experiments.Keywords
This publication has 30 references indexed in Scilit:
- From the cellular perspective: exploring differences in the cellular baseline in macroscale and microfluidic culturesIntegrative Biology, 2009
- Microfluidics meet cell biology: bridging the gap by validation and application of microscale techniques for cell biological assaysBioEssays, 2008
- Cell Culture Models in Microfluidic SystemsAnnual Review of Analytical Chemistry, 2008
- Prolactin Does Not Require Insulin-Like Growth Factor Intermediates but Synergizes with Insulin-Like Growth Factor I in Human Breast Cancer CellsMolecular Cancer Research, 2008
- Understanding microchannel culture: parameters involved in soluble factor signalingLab on a Chip, 2007
- PDMS absorption of small molecules and consequences in microfluidic applicationsLab on a Chip, 2006
- Stable Permanently Hydrophilic Protein-Resistant Thin-Film Coatings on Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Substrates by Electrostatic Self-Assembly and Chemical Cross-LinkingAnalytical Chemistry, 2005
- Patterned cell culture inside microfluidic devicesLab on a Chip, 2004
- Microenvironment design considerations for cellular scale studiesLab on a Chip, 2004
- Patterning proteins and cells using soft lithographyBiomaterials, 1999