[18a-221C-1~10] 12.7 Biomedical Engineering and Biochips

[18a-221C-10] All-Glass Cell Culturing Device Functionalized by Micrometer Glass Filter

〇Yaxiaer Yalikun^1,2, Yo Tanaka², Yoichiroh Hosokawa¹ (1.Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Graduate School of Materials Science, Bio-Process Engineering Laboratory, 2.Laboratory for Integrated Biodevice Quantitative Biology Center, RIKEN)

Keywords:Glass filter, Microfluidic device, Cell culturing

In this paper, we report development and demonstration of a method to fabricate an all-glass microfluidic cell culturing device without circulation flow. On-chip microfluidic cell-culturing is an indispensable technique for cellular replacement therapies and experimental cell biology. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) have become a popular material for fabricating microfluidic cell culture device because it is a transparent, biocompatible, deformable, easy-to-mold, and gas permeable material. However, PDMS is also a chemically and physically unstable material. For example, PDMS becomes aging easily even in ambient condition. Therefore, it is difficult to control the experimental condition for the long term. On the other hand, glass is expected to be stable not only in physically but also chemically even in the presence of organic solvents. However, cell culture still requires substance exchange such as gasses nutrition, and so on, which are unable to be supplied in a closed space of glass device without circulation flow that may influence cell behavior. Thus, we introduce a filter structure with micropores onto a glass device to improve permeability to cell culture space. Normally, it was extremely difficult to fabricate filter structure on a normal glass plate by using conventional fabrication method. Here, we demonstrated a method for fabricating an all-glass microfluidic cell culturing device having a filter structure. The function of this all-glass microfluidic cell culturing device was confirmed by culturing Hela and ES cells. Compared with the closed glass devices without filter structure, cells in our device increased and EB was formed. This method offered a new tool to microfluidic cell culture technology for biological analysis and expanded the fields of microfluidic cell culture.