title: Regulating oxygen levels in a microfluidic device.
abstract: Microfluidic devices made from poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) are gas permeable and have been used to provide accurate on-chip oxygen regulation. However, pervaporation in PDMS devices can rapidly lead to dramatic changes in solution osmotic pressure. In the present study, we demonstrate a new method for on-chip oxygen control using pre-equilibrated aqueous solutions in gas-control channels to regulate the oxygen content in stagnant microfluidic test chambers. An off-chip gas exchanger is used to equilibrate each control solution prior to entering the chip. Using this strategy, problems due to pervaporation are considerably reduced. An integrated PDMS-based oxygen sensor allows accurate real-time measurements of the oxygen within the microfluidic chamber. The measurements were found to be consistent with predictions from finite-element modeling.
authors: Biochemical Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States.
authors: Peter C
authors: PC
authors: Thomas
authors: Srinivasa R
authors: SR
authors: Raghavan
authors: Samuel P
authors: SP
authors: Forry
mesh_terms: D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes / Q000737:chemistry; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D004129:Dimethylpolysiloxanes; C013830:baysilon; D010100:Oxygen