Abstract
In the face of challenges in the development of excellent biocompatible materials for microfluidic device fabrication, we demonstrated that cross-linked cellulose (RCC) hydrogel can be used as the bulk material for microchips. The cellulose hydrogel was prepared from cellulose solution dissolved in an 8 wt% LiOH/15 wt% urea aqueous system with cooling by crosslinking with epichlorohydrin. Collagen as a key extracellular matrix component for promoting cell cultivation was cross-linked in the cellulose hydrogel to obtain cellulose–collagen (RCC/C) hybrid hydrogels. The experimental results revealed that cellulose-based hydrogel microchips with well-defined 2D or 3D microstructures possessed excellent structural replication ability, good mechanical properties, and cytocompatibility for cell culture as well as excellent dimensional stability at elevated temperature. The hydrogel, as a transparent microchip material, had no effect on the fluorescence behaviors of FITC-dextran and rhodamine-dextran, leading to the good conjunction with fluorescent detection and imaging. Moreover, collagen could be immobilized in the RCC/C hydrogel scaffold for promoting cell growth and generating stable chemical concentration gradients, leading to superior cytocompatibility. This work provides new hydrogel materials for the microfluidic technology field and mimicks a 3D cell culture microenvironment for cell-based tissue engineering and drug screening.
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This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program, 2010CB732203) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (20874079).
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Ying Pei and Xueying Wang contributed equally to this paper.
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Pei, Y., Wang, X., Huang, W. et al. Cellulose-based hydrogels with excellent microstructural replication ability and cytocompatibility for microfluidic devices. Cellulose 20, 1897–1909 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-013-9930-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10570-013-9930-6