Studies of cell behaviors in 3D microtissues in a microfluidic device: Growth and migration

Abstract

This paper reports, for the first time, an optimized microfluidic droplet device for fabricating 3D microtissues and studying the cell behaviors in 3D microtissues. It has been found by properly selecting the size of the microchambers on the microfluidic device and choosing an optimal concentration of collagen (2 mg/ml) to fabricate microtissues, the behaviors of cells in the microtissues can be essentially the same as those of cells in a conventional cell culture system. The normal cell spreading and division in the microtissue have been observed, and the cell migration speed is ~14.1 μm/hr, close to that of 17.3 μm/hr in a macroscale tissue. All these experimental results suggest the microfluidic droplet device might provide a new avenue to replace other approaches to fabricate 3D microtissues and study cell behaviors.