title: Investigation of portable in situ fluorescence optical detection for microfluidic 3D cell culture assays.
abstract: A portable fluorescence optical detection system was developed to demonstrate real-time in situ analysis of cells that are three-dimensionally cultured in an extracellular matrix under microfluidic environment. The system was designed to provide a large field of view in the lateral plane to average out cellular processes in an axial layer and simultaneously diffraction-limited axial resolution. In this proof-of-concept study, the detection system was applied to quantitative analyses of short-term measurements of cell staining and cell cytotoxicity and long-term monitoring of a cell-invasion assay. For assays, colon cancer cells were cultured in a Matrigel or alginate matrix. The measured data were largely consistent with predicted results and revealed quantitatively cell dynamics specific to 3D cell cultures. The detection system has a potential as a single package to investigate 3D cultures in a microfluidic system.
authors.affiliation: School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Yonsei University, 120-749 Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-ryul
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jong Hwan
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Michael Louis
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Shuler
authors.forename: Donghyun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D004867:Equipment Design; D005453:Fluorescence; D006801:Humans; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D055095:Optics and Photonics / Q000295:instrumentation*