A prototypic microfluidic platform generating stepwise concentration gradients for real-time study of cell apoptosis
- 16 April 2010
- journal article
- research article
- Published by AIP Publishing in Biomicrofluidics
- Vol. 4 (2), 024101
- https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3398319
Abstract
This work describes the development of a prototypic microfluidic platform for the generation of stepwise concentration gradients of drugs. A sensitive apoptotic analysis method is integrated into this microfluidic system for studying apoptosis of HeLa cells under the influence of anticancer drug, etoposide, with various concentrations in parallel; it measures the yellow fluorescent protein/cyan fluorescent protein fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) signal that responds to the activation of caspase-3, an indicator of cell apoptosis. Sets of microfluidic valves on the chip generate stepwise concentration gradient of etoposide in various cell-culture microchambers. The FRET signals from multiple chambers are simultaneously monitored under a fluorescent microscope for long-time observation and the on-chip results are compared with those from 96-well plate study and the methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The microfluidic platform shows several advantages including high-throughput capacity, low drug consumption, and high sensitivity.Keywords
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