title: A prototypic microfluidic platform generating stepwise concentration gradients for real-time study of cell apoptosis.
abstract: This work describes the development of a prototypic microfluidic platform for the generation of stepwise concentration gradients of drugs. A sensitive apoptotic analysis method is integrated into this microfluidic system for studying apoptosis of HeLa cells under the influence of anticancer drug, etoposide, with various concentrations in parallel; it measures the yellow fluorescent proteincyan fluorescent protein fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) signal that responds to the activation of caspase-3, an indicator of cell apoptosis. Sets of microfluidic valves on the chip generate stepwise concentration gradient of etoposide in various cell-culture microchambers. The FRET signals from multiple chambers are simultaneously monitored under a fluorescent microscope for long-time observation and the on-chip results are compared with those from 96-well plate study and the methylthiazolyldiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The microfluidic platform shows several advantages including high-throughput capacity, low drug consumption, and high sensitivity.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Yizhe
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.forename: Kathy Qian
authors.initials: KQ
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Hongkai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wu