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3D printing of soft lithography mold for rapid production of polydimethylsiloxane-based microfluidic devices for cell stimulation with concentration gradients

Biomedical Microdevices volume 17, Article number: 36 (2015) Cite this article

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is advantageous over conventional technologies for the fabrication of sophisticated structures such as 3D micro-channels for future applications in tissue engineering and drug screening. We aimed to apply this technology to cell-based assays using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), the most commonly used material for fabrication of micro-channels used for cell culture experiments. Useful properties of PDMS include biocompatibility, gas permeability and transparency. We developed a simple and robust protocol to generate PDMS-based devices using a soft lithography mold produced by 3D printing. 3D chemical gradients were then generated to stimulate cells confined to a micro-channel. We demonstrate that concentration gradients of growth factors, important regulators of cell/tissue functions in vivo, influence the survival and growth of human embryonic stem cells. Thus, this approach for generation of 3D concentration gradients could have strong implications for tissue engineering and drug screening.

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Acknowledgments

Funding was generously provided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS): Young Scientists (A) (to K.K.; 23681028) and Challenging Exploratory Research (to K.K.; 26560209); funding was also provided by Terumo Life Science Foundation. The WPI-iCeMS is supported by the World Premier International Research Centre Initiative (WPI), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan.

Competing financial interests

K. K. and Y. C. are listed as co-inventors on the Japanese provisional patent application based on this research. The remaining authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (WPI-iCeMS), Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8501, Japan

    Ken-ichiro Kamei, Yasumasa Mashimo, Yoshie Koyama, Christopher Fockenberg, Miyuki Nakashima, Minako Nakajima, Junjun Li & Yong Chen

  2. Environmental Chemistry and Engineering, Graduate School of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Kanagawa, 226-8501, Japan

    Yasumasa Mashimo

  3. École Normale Supérieure, CNRS-ENS-UPMC UMR 8640, 24 rue Lhomond, Paris, 75005, France

    Yong Chen

Authors
  1. Ken-ichiro Kamei
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  2. Yasumasa Mashimo
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  3. Yoshie Koyama
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  4. Christopher Fockenberg
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  5. Miyuki Nakashima
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  6. Minako Nakajima
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  7. Junjun Li
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  8. Yong Chen
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Correspondence to Ken-ichiro Kamei or Yong Chen.

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Kamei, Ki., Mashimo, Y., Koyama, Y. et al. 3D printing of soft lithography mold for rapid production of polydimethylsiloxane-based microfluidic devices for cell stimulation with concentration gradients. Biomed Microdevices 17, 36 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-015-9928-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10544-015-9928-y

Keywords

  • 3D printing
  • Microfluidics
  • Polydimethylsiloxane
  • Human embryonic stem cell
  • Concentration gradient