Use Microfluidic Chips to Study the Phototaxis of Lung Cancer Cells

Abstract

Cell migration is an important process involved in wound healing, tissue development, and so on. Many studies have been conducted to explore how certain chemicals and electric fields induce cell movements in specific directions, which are phenomena termed chemotaxis and electrotaxis, respectively. However, phototaxis, the directional migration of cells or organisms toward or away from light, is rarely investigated due to the difficulty of generating a precise and controllable light gradient. In this study, we designed and fabricated a microfluidic chip for simultaneously culturing cells and generating a blue light gradient for guiding cell migration. A concentration gradient was first established inside this chip, and by illuminating it with a blue light-emitting diode (LED), a blue light gradient was generated underneath. Cell migration in response to this light stimulus was observed. It was found that lung cancer cells migrated to the dark side of the gradient, and the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) was proportional to the intensity of the blue light.

Characterization of Nitrogen-Doped TiO2 Films Prepared by Arc Ion Plating without Substrate Heating in Various N2/O2 Gas Mixture Ratios

“…The photocatalytic performance of samples was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB), a prevalent test pollutant in photocatalysis [38,39], under lights of specific wavelengths. The Beer-Lambert law states that the absorbance (A) of a material to a specific light is proportional to the absorption coefficient of the material (α), the path length of the light (x), and the concentration of the material (c): A = αxc [40,41]. This absorbance is related to the transmittance (T) of the light to the same material as A = −logT.…”

Generation of microfluidic gradients and their effects on cells behaviours

“…Lin et al developed a microfluidic chip used for culturing cells and then illuminated them with blue light-emitting diodes to generate a blue light gradient for guiding the cell migration. Their research proposed a new strategy to reveal the phototaxis behaviours of cancer cells [23].…”