High cell viability microfluidic electroporation in a curved channel

Abstract

In this paper, by utilizing a curved channel, where the Dean flow is generated, the cell viability in the microfluidic electroporation chip has been significantly increased. The Dean vortex plays two major roles. Firstly, in the middle region of the curved channel, the cell solution is enveloped by the protective buffer, which keeps cells away from the metal electrodes throughout the electroporation process. Therefore, distasteful effects due to water electrolysis, such as air bubbles, Joule heating and pH changing, are mitigated or avoided. Secondly, in the ending region of the curved channel, the Dean vortex will recombine the split protective flow and neutralize positive and negative ions. Consequently, several hard-to-transfect cell types were successfully transferred with this device. Compared to conventional microfluidic electroporation devices, our electroporation chip can achieve flow-through electroporation with high viability and high transfection rate, while providing a continuous electroporation environment to address large doses of biological transfection requirement.