Transitioning from multi-phase to single-phase microfluidics for long-term culture and treatment of multicellular spheroids

Kay S. McMillan, Marie Boyd, Michele Zagnoni

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Citations (Scopus)
170 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

When compared to methodologies based on low adhesion or hanging drop plates, droplet microfluidics offers several advantages for the formation and culture of multicellular spheroids, such as the potential for higher throughput screening and the use of reduced cell numbers, whilst providing increased stability for plate handling. However, a drawback of the technology is its characteristic compartmentalisation which limits the nutrients available to cells within an emulsion and poses challenges to the exchange of the encapsulated solution, often resulting in short-term cell culture and/or viability issues. The aim of this study was to develop a multi-purpose microfluidic platform that combines the high-throughput characteristics of multi-phase flows with that of ease of perfusion typical of single-phase microfluidics. We developed a versatile system to upscale the formation and long-term culture of multicellular spheroids for testing anticancer treatments, creating and array of fluidically addressable, compact spheroids that could be cultured in either medium or within a gel scaffold. The work provides proof-of-concept results for using this system to test both chemo- and radio-therapeutic protocols using in vitro 3D cancer models.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3548-3557
Number of pages10
JournalLab on a Chip
Volume16
Issue number18
Early online date27 Jul 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Sept 2016

Keywords

  • droplet microfluidics
  • spheroids
  • drug screening assays
  • antitumour
  • microfluidic platform
  • multi-phase flows
  • anticancer treatments

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