A Stand-Alone Microfluidic Chip for Long-Term Cell Culture
Yibo Feng,
Yang Zeng,
Jiahao Fu,
Bingchen Che,
Guangyin Jing,
Yonggang Liu,
Dan Sun,
Ce Zhang
Affiliations
Yibo Feng
State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi’an 710127, China
Yang Zeng
State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi’an 710127, China
Jiahao Fu
State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi’an 710127, China
Bingchen Che
School of Physics, Northwest University, No. 1 Xuefu Avenue, Xi’an 710127, China
Guangyin Jing
School of Physics, Northwest University, No. 1 Xuefu Avenue, Xi’an 710127, China
Yonggang Liu
Laboratory of Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China
Dan Sun
State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi’an 710127, China
Ce Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Photon-Technology in Western China Energy, Institute of Photonics and Photon-Technology, Northwest University, No. 1, Xuefu Avenue, Xi’an 710127, China
Live-cell microscopy is crucial for biomedical studies and clinical tests. The technique is, however, limited to few laboratories due to its high cost and bulky size of the necessary culture equipment. In this study, we propose a portable microfluidic-cell-culture system, which is merely 15 cm×11 cm×9 cm in dimension, powered by a conventional alkali battery and costs less than USD 20. For long-term cell culture, a fresh culture medium exposed to 5% CO2 is programmed to be delivered to the culture chamber at defined time intervals. The 37 °C culture temperature is maintained by timely electrifying the ITO glass slide underneath the culture chamber. Our results demonstrate that 3T3 fibroblasts, HepG2 cells, MB-231 cells and tumor spheroids can be well-maintained for more than 48 h on top of the microscope stage and show physical characters (e.g., morphology and mobility) and growth rate on par with the commercial stage-top incubator and the widely adopted CO2 incubator. The proposed portable cell culture device is, therefore, suitable for simple live-cell studies in the lab and cell experiments in the field when samples cannot be shipped.
