Development and Applications of Microfluidic Devices for Cell Culture in Cell Biology

Abstract

Development of microfluidic culture technology combined with tissue engineering catalyzes the progress in study of cell biology. These tools will promote the understanding of physiological and pathological changes. Cancer cells and stem cells are sensitive to their surroundings, thus could be better explored by controllable microfluidic devices. In this review, we describe the ways to control cell microenvironment and explain how the influencing factors influence cellular behaviors, then present microfluidic-chip-based exemplary applications for cancer models and stem cell differentiation.

Fluorescent Molecular Rotors for Viscosity Sensors

“…Recently, microfluidic culture technology in conjunction with tissue engineering has been developed for studies in cell biology because many biological questions must be answered on the microscale . To examine the effect of membrane fluidity on the modulation of mechanochemical signal transduction, a lipid‐targeting molecular rotor, 9‐(2‐carboxy‐farnesylester‐2‐cyanovinyl)‐julolidine (FCVJ), was used to probe for lipid viscosity.…”