Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
a
b
c
3 hours
16 hours
Membrane contact
20 µm
FIGURE 5.26
Cell.traps.for.studying.cell-cell.contacts..(From.Philip.J..Lee,.Paul.J..Hung,.Robin.
Shaw,.Lily.Jan,.and.Luke.P..Lee,.“Microluidic.application-speciic.integrated.device.for.monitoring.
direct.cell-cell.communication.via.gap.junctions.between.individual.cell.pairs,”.
Appl. Phys. Lett.
.86,.
223902,.2005..Figure.contributed.by.Luke.Lee.)
able to demonstrate gap-junctional communication (transfer of luorescent dye) between pairs of
cells. his approach should ind uses in a variety of cell-cell communication studies; for example,
antigen-presenting cells and T cells could be brought together to study—or engineer—the immu-
nological synapse.
hese approaches all sufer from the drawback that most cells (80%-90%) in the cell suspen-
sion do not get trapped in the device, so an excess of cells is required. What if one required the
trapping of all the cells (or the large majority of the cells), or only very few cells were available?
We would like to have a design that takes care of trapping every cell that goes through it. hat is
precisely the problem that Shoji Takeuchi's group, from the University of Tokyo, solved in 2007
Cavity
a
c
3-µm
High
gap
Main
channel
100 µm
Top
view
Side
view
b
d
10 µm
FIGURE 5.27
A. high-eficiency. hydrodynamic. trapping. device.. (From. Stefan. Kobel,. Ana. Valero,.
Jonas.Latt,.Philippe.Renaud,.and.Matthias.Lutolf,.“Optimization.of.microluidic.single.cell.trapping.
for.long-term.on-chip.culture,”.
Lab Chip
.10,.857-863,.2010..Reproduced.with.permission.from.
The.Royal.Society.of.Chemistry.)
