Abstract
Endogenous electric fields (EFs) play an important role in many biological
processes. In order to gain an insight into these biological phenomena,
externally applied electric fields are used to study cellular responses. In
this work, we report the construction and fabrication of a direct current
(DC)-electrically stimulated microfluidic biochip and its validation with
murine photoreceptor-derived 661 W cells. The presented device has the
particularity of offering a non-homogeneous EF environment that best
resembles the endogenous electric fields in vitro. The fabrication process is
relatively easy, namely by photolithography and soft lithography techniques
and, furthermore, it enables live-cell imaging under an inverted microscope.
First experimental results reveal cathodal directional cell migration upon
applied DC EFs. In summary, the microfluidic biochip has proven
biocompatibility and suitability for cellular electrotaxis experiments in
non-homogeneous DC electric fields.
Citation
ID:
237494
Ref Key:
rio2016journalmicrofluidic