Design and fabrication of bone-on-chip microfluidic devices for cell culture.

Suárez Casiano, Raúl
Ovsianikov, Aleksandr (dir.)

García Aznar, José Manuel (ponente)

Universidad de Zaragoza, EINA, 2022
Ingeniería Mecánica department, Mec. de Medios Contínuos y Teor. de Estructuras area

Máster Universitario en Ingeniería Biomédica

Abstract: This project aimed to provide a basis for the development of a bottom up assembly of tissue within a microfluidic chip for a bone-on-a-chip model. The main purpose of the project was erforming a cell culture in which human adipose-derived stem cells (“hASCs") spheroids could grow inside of the central channel of the device without invading the side channels. Concretely, highly porous buckyball microscaffolds, fabricated via two-photon polymerization technique, were employed as a structure to support the delivery of spheroids into the microfluidic device. The vertical central inlet (“VCI”) “SLA Accura® Xtreme™” mould was the best solution for the fabrication of the microfluidic devices in terms of surface quality and additionally because no leaking was observed during the test process. The cell culture results showed that the central channel was not completely filled with spheroids due to the presence of air bubbles that were going inside the device during the pipetting. Additionally, cells were also growing inside the side channels which was not desired. The side channels are necessary for perfusion of nutrients, growth factors etc. Live/dead staining resultsshowed that cells were still alive after 7 days of cell culture, which means that the protocol could be useful for further long-term culture studies like differentiation of stem cells into osteoblast cells. Considering the mentioned results, another method for introducing the spheroids inside the microfluidic device must be chosen. As future lines of investigation, more cell culture experiments should be done to verify if it is possible to completely fill the central channel with spheroids and create bone tissue inside without penetrating the side channels. Moreover, surface coating of the microfluidic devices could be performed to prevent cell attachment.

Tipo de Trabajo Académico: Trabajo Fin de Master