title: A drug-compatible and temperature-controlled microfluidic device for live-cell imaging.
abstract: Monitoring cellular responses to changes in growth conditions and perturbation of targeted pathways is integral to the investigation of biological processes. However, manipulating cells and their environment during live-cell-imaging experiments still represents a major challenge. While the coupling of microfluidics with microscopy has emerged as a powerful solution to this problem, this approach remains severely underexploited. Indeed, most microdevices rely on the polymer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), which strongly absorbs a variety of molecules commonly used in cell biology. This effect of the microsystems on the cellular environment hampers our capacity to accurately modulate the composition of the medium and the concentration of specific compounds within the microchips, with implications for the reliability of these experiments. To overcome this critical issue, we developed new PDMS-free microdevices dedicated to live-cell imaging that show no interference with small molecules. They also integrate a module for maintaining precise sample temperature both above and below ambient as well as for rapid temperature shifts. Importantly, changes in medium composition and temperature can be efficiently achieved within the chips while recording cell behaviour by microscopy. Compatible with different model systems, our platforms provide a versatile solution for the dynamic regulation of the cellular environment during live-cell imaging.
authors: SyntheCell team, Institute of Genetics and Development, CNRS UMR 6290, 2 avenue du Pr. Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France.
authors: Tong
authors: T
authors: Chen
authors: Genome Duplication and Maintenance team, Institute of Genetics and Development, CNRS UMR 6290, 2 avenue du Pr. Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France.
authors: Blanca
authors: B
authors: Gomez-Escoda
authors: SyntheCell team, Institute of Genetics and Development, CNRS UMR 6290, 2 avenue du Pr. Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France.
authors: Javier
authors: J
authors: Munoz-Garcia
authors: SyntheCell team, Institute of Genetics and Development, CNRS UMR 6290, 2 avenue du Pr. Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France.
authors: Julien
authors: J
authors: Babic
authors: SyntheCell team, Institute of Genetics and Development, CNRS UMR 6290, 2 avenue du Pr. Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France.
authors: Laurent
authors: L
authors: Griscom
authors: Genome Duplication and Maintenance team, Institute of Genetics and Development, CNRS UMR 6290, 2 avenue du Pr. Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France pei-yun.wu@univ-rennes1.fr.
authors: Pei-Yun Jenny
authors: PY
authors: Wu
authors: SyntheCell team, Institute of Genetics and Development, CNRS UMR 6290, 2 avenue du Pr. Léon Bernard, 35043 Rennes, France damien.coudreuse@univ-rennes1.fr.
authors: Damien
authors: 0000-0003-2534-1621
authors: D
authors: Coudreuse
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design / Q000379:methods*; D006367:HeLa Cells / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D044085:Microfluidics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013696:Temperature; D015003:Yeasts / Q000648:ultrastructure
keywords: cell biology; control of cellular environment; live-cell imaging; microfluidics; microscopy