title: "Artificial micro organs"--a microfluidic device for dielectrophoretic assembly of liver sinusoids.
abstract: In order to study possible toxic side effects of potential drug compounds in vitro a reliable test system is needed. Predicting liver toxicity presents a major challenge of particular importance as liver cells grown in a cell culture suffer from a rapid loss of their liver specific functions. Therefore we are developing a new microfluidic test system for liver toxicity. This test system is based on an organ-like liver 3D co-culture of hepatocytes and endothelial cells. We devised a microfluidic chip featuring cell culture chambers with integrated electrodes for the assembly of liver sinusoids by dielectrophoresis. Fluid channels enable an organ-like perfusion with culture media and test compounds. Different chamber designs were studied and optimized with regard to dielectrophoretic force distribution, hydrodynamic flow profile, and cell trapping rate using numeric simulations. Based on simulation results a microchip was injection-moulded from COP. This chip allowed the assembly of viable hepatocytes and endothelial cells in a sinusoid-like fashion.
authors.affiliation: NMI Naturwissenschaftliches und Medizinisches Institut an der Universität Tübingen, Markwiesenstrasse 55, Reutlingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schütte
authors.forename: Britta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hagmeyer
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Holzner
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubon
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Freudigmann
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Benz
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Böttger
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gebhardt
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stelzle
mesh_terms: D001187:Artificial Organs; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002470:Cell Survival; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D042783:Endothelial Cells / Q000166:cytology; D004867:Equipment Design; D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology*; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010477:Perfusion
chemical_list: D016326:Extracellular Matrix Proteins