Abstract
In this article, we explore a new fabrication process for a flexible, all polymer, active fluidic delivery system, incorporating a fusion of laser micromachining and microfabrication techniques as well as rapid prototyping technology. Here, we show selective fluidic delivery from isolated microchannels through an electrochemically driven pumping reaction, demonstrate the dispensing of dose volumes up to 5.5 μl, and evaluate the device’s performance in terms of its delivery speed and ejection efficiency. Finally, we move this work toward an implantable microfluidic drug delivery device by investigating the device’s biocompatibility through a statistical approach that overviews the viability of bovine aortic endothelial cells on polyimide and silicon substrates.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Michael Kalontarov for helpful discussions, Prof. Hod Lipson for access to the 3-D Acrylic Printer and Dr. Mehmet Ozgur at the MEMS and Nanotechnology Exchange for the laser etch process. This work was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Defense Sciences Office under the Hybrid Insect MEMS “HI-MEMS” program through the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research. Distribution unlimited. Portions of this work were also supported by the Office of Naval Research under grant “Autonomous Microfluidic Devices for Battlefield Health Assessment and Treatment” which has award number N000141010115. The facilities used for this research include Nanoscale Science & Technology Facility (CNF), Nanobiotechnology Center (NBTC) at Cornell University.
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Online Resource 1: Electrochemical Ejection through a Flexible Microfluidic Needle. Movie shows a 10 mM PBS solution containing 50 nm fluorescent polystyrene microspheres being ejected from the fluidic device to the outside environment.
Online Resource 2: Supplementary Figures.
Supplementary Fig. 1: Electrochemical device fabrication steps.
Supplementary Fig. 2: Fabrication procedure results
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Cordovez, B., Chung, A.J., Mak, M. et al. A novel polymer microneedle fabrication process for active fluidic delivery. Microfluid Nanofluid 10, 785–791 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-010-0709-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-010-0709-x