Authors: ChihWei Wu ShengPing Chang ChangJer Wu ShihHao Huang
Publish Date: 2012/06/21
Volume: 19, Issue: 1, Pages: 105-112
Abstract
This paper shows a novel method to cultivate cells on a πshape microcantilever inside a polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic system Only one lithography step was needed to precisely align and pattern a poly2hydroxyethyl methacrylate hydrogel microstructure of size 200 × 200 μm onto a silicon nitride microcantilever inside the PDMS microfluidic device Gelatin was used as a sacrificial layer to resolve the issue of the microfluidic and hydrogel microstructure sticking together successfully releasing the microcantilevers BHK21 cells were successfully laden and cultivated on the hydrogel microstructures of microcantilevers for 24 h The optical system consisted of a He–Ne laser a chargecoupled device camera and a positionsensitive detector which was used to measure the deflections of the microcantilevers due to the laden cells The deflection increased continually during the cellladen period Meanwhile the deflection increased with increasing cell concentration By repeating the cellladen and culture experiment three times the magnitude and trend of deflection of microcantilevers were almost the same It demonstrates that the microcantileverbased biochip has adequate stability and provides reliable measurement results for drug screening applications in the futureThe authors would like to thank National Taiwan Ocean University and the National Science Council of Taiwan Republic of China for financially supporting this research under Contract Nos NTOUAF9404042301 NSC982627B019007 and NSC992627B019004
Keywords: