{"title":"A flexible strategy to fabricate trumpet-shaped porous PDMS membranes for organ-on-chip application.","authors":"Yingying Xie, Yaqiong Guo, Fuwei Xie, Yan Dong, Xiaoqing Zhang, Xiang Li, Xu Zhang","doi":"10.1063/5.0227148","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane is a crucial element in organs-on-chips fabrication, supplying a unique substrate that can be used for the generation of tissue-tissue interfaces, separate co-culture, biomimetic stretch application, etc. However, the existing methods of through-hole PDMS membrane production are largely limited by labor-consuming processes and/or expensive equipment. Here, we propose an accessible and low-cost strategy to fabricate through-hole PDMS membranes with good controllability, which is performed via combining wet-etching and spin-coating processes. The porous membrane is obtained by spin-coating OS-20 diluted PDMS on an etched glass template with a columnar array structure. The pore size and thickness of the PDMS membrane can be adjusted flexibly via optimizing the template structure and spinning speed. In particular, compared to the traditional vertical through-hole structure of porous membranes, the membranes prepared by this method feature a trumpet-shaped structure, which allows for the generation of some unique bionic structures on organs-on-chips. When the trumpet-shape faces upward, the endothelium spreads at the bottom of the porous membrane, and intestinal cells form a villous structure, achieving the same effect as traditional methods. Conversely, when the trumpet-shape faces downward, intestinal cells spontaneously form a crypt-like structure, which is challenging to achieve with other methods. The proposed approach is simple, flexible with good reproducibility, and low-cost, which provides a new way to facilitate the building of multifunctional organ-on-chip systems and accelerate their translational applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":8855,"journal":{"name":"Biomicrofluidics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11379495/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Biomicrofluidics","FirstCategoryId":"5","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0227148","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/9/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"BIOCHEMICAL RESEARCH METHODS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) membrane is a crucial element in organs-on-chips fabrication, supplying a unique substrate that can be used for the generation of tissue-tissue interfaces, separate co-culture, biomimetic stretch application, etc. However, the existing methods of through-hole PDMS membrane production are largely limited by labor-consuming processes and/or expensive equipment. Here, we propose an accessible and low-cost strategy to fabricate through-hole PDMS membranes with good controllability, which is performed via combining wet-etching and spin-coating processes. The porous membrane is obtained by spin-coating OS-20 diluted PDMS on an etched glass template with a columnar array structure. The pore size and thickness of the PDMS membrane can be adjusted flexibly via optimizing the template structure and spinning speed. In particular, compared to the traditional vertical through-hole structure of porous membranes, the membranes prepared by this method feature a trumpet-shaped structure, which allows for the generation of some unique bionic structures on organs-on-chips. When the trumpet-shape faces upward, the endothelium spreads at the bottom of the porous membrane, and intestinal cells form a villous structure, achieving the same effect as traditional methods. Conversely, when the trumpet-shape faces downward, intestinal cells spontaneously form a crypt-like structure, which is challenging to achieve with other methods. The proposed approach is simple, flexible with good reproducibility, and low-cost, which provides a new way to facilitate the building of multifunctional organ-on-chip systems and accelerate their translational applications.
期刊介绍:
Biomicrofluidics (BMF) is an online-only journal published by AIP Publishing to rapidly disseminate research in fundamental physicochemical mechanisms associated with microfluidic and nanofluidic phenomena. BMF also publishes research in unique microfluidic and nanofluidic techniques for diagnostic, medical, biological, pharmaceutical, environmental, and chemical applications.
BMF offers quick publication, multimedia capability, and worldwide circulation among academic, national, and industrial laboratories. With a primary focus on high-quality original research articles, BMF also organizes special sections that help explain and define specific challenges unique to the interdisciplinary field of biomicrofluidics.
Microfluidic and nanofluidic actuation (electrokinetics, acoustofluidics, optofluidics, capillary)
Liquid Biopsy (microRNA profiling, circulating tumor cell isolation, exosome isolation, circulating tumor DNA quantification)
Cell sorting, manipulation, and transfection (di/electrophoresis, magnetic beads, optical traps, electroporation)
Molecular Separation and Concentration (isotachophoresis, concentration polarization, di/electrophoresis, magnetic beads, nanoparticles)
Cell culture and analysis(single cell assays, stimuli response, stem cell transfection)
Genomic and proteomic analysis (rapid gene sequencing, DNA/protein/carbohydrate arrays)
Biosensors (immuno-assay, nucleic acid fluorescent assay, colorimetric assay, enzyme amplification, plasmonic and Raman nano-reporter, molecular beacon, FRET, aptamer, nanopore, optical fibers)
Biophysical transport and characterization (DNA, single protein, ion channel and membrane dynamics, cell motility and communication mechanisms, electrophysiology, patch clamping). Etc...