3D tissue culture substrates produced by microthermoforming of pre-processed polymer films

Abstract

We describe a new technology based on thermoforming as a microfabrication process. It significantly enhances the tailoring of polymers for three dimensional tissue engineering purposes since for the first time highly resolved surface and bulk modifications prior to a microstructuring process can be realised. In contrast to typical micro moulding techniques, the melting phase is avoided and thus allows the forming of pre-processed polymer films. The polymer is formed in a thermoelastic state without loss of material coherence. Therefore, previously generated modifications can be preserved. To prove the feasibility of our newly developed technique, so called SMART = Substrate Modification And Replication by Thermoforming, polymer films treated by various polymer modification methods, like UV-based patterned films, and films modified by the bombardment with energetic heavy ions, were post-processed by microthermoforming. The preservation of locally applied specific surface and bulk features was demonstrated e.g. by the selective adhesion of cells to patterned microcavity walls.

An integrative microfluidically supported in vitro model of an endothelial barrier combined with cortical spheroids simulates effects of neuroinflammation in neocortex development

“…For co-culture with cortical tissue spheroids, a special membrane with thermo-formed micro-cavities was integrated for immobilization of the spheroids during perfusion of the endothelial layer in the lower part of the biochip (Figure 1). 16 Each micro-channel system is connected to a separate sampling port that allows sample collection without interruption of cell culture perfusion with medium ( Figure 1).…”

The famousversusthe inconvenient - or the dawn and the rise of 3D-culture systems

“…and the fabrication process called SMART (Substrate Modification and Replication by Thermoforming), which allows the production of chips from thin polymer films [42,43] . SMART consists of a combination of microtechnical thermoforming or microthermoforming and various material modification techniques, and thus allows a site-specific functionalization of 3D cavities.…”

Membrane Micro Emboss (MeME) Process for 3-D Membrane Microdevice

“…Although the CVD process using parylene is used to fabricate 3-D membrane microstructures (Zhenga et al, 2007;Liua et al, 2008), the limitations caused by the unavailability of suitable materials and low production rates present significant problems. The microthermoforming process (Truckenmüller et al, 2002;Giselbrecht et al, 2006) can be applied to a wide variety of thermoplastic materials and is suitable for mass production; however, it cannot be applied to highly porous membranes because the pressurized fluid leaks through the pores. The MeME process (Fig.2) was developed to realize 3-D membrane microstructures from a wide variety of materials including porous materials (Ikeuchi & Ikuta, 2005;.…”