Abstract
As a result of the steadily ongoing development of microfluidic cultivation (MC) devices, a plethora of setups is used in biological laboratories for the cultivation and analysis of different organisms. Because of their biocompatibility and ease of fabrication, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-glass-based devices are most prominent. Especially the successful and reproducible cultivation of cells in microfluidic systems, ranging from bacteria over algae and fungi to mammalians, is a fundamental step for further quantitative biological analysis. In combination with live-cell imaging, MC devices allow the cultivation of small cell clusters (or even single cells) under defined environmental conditions and with high spatio-temporal resolution. Yet, most setups in use are custom made and only few standardised setups are available, making trouble-free application and inter-laboratory transfer tricky. Therefore, we provide a guideline to overcome the most frequently occurring challenges during a MC experiment to allow untrained users to learn the application of continuous-flow-based MC devices. By giving a concise overview of the respective workflow, we give the reader a general understanding of the whole procedure and its most common pitfalls. Additionally, we complement the listing of challenges with solutions to overcome these hurdles. On selected case studies, covering successful and reproducible growth of cells in MC devices, we demonstrate detailed solutions to solve occurring challenges as a blueprint for further troubleshooting. Since developer and end-user of MC devices are often different persons, we believe that our guideline will help to enhance a broader applicability of MC in the field of life science and eventually promote the ongoing advancement of MC.
Highlights
Microfluidic technologies have provided a multitude of tools for manipulating and analysing small volumes of fluid to control and study chemical, biological and physical processes [1]
Either there is an additional organism growing inside the microfluidic device or only the contaminant made its way into the device and the target organism is not cultivated at all (Table 2)
All in all, performing successful and quantitative microfluidic cultivation (MC) experiments relies on a proper design selection, preculture and careful choice of the cultivation medium
Summary
Microfluidic technologies have provided a multitude of tools for manipulating and analysing small volumes of fluid to control and study chemical, biological and physical processes [1]. Introducing the field of MC, the conventional experimental workflow will be summarised briefly in its seven consecutive steps: microfluidic design and fabrication, PDMS chip assembly, cell and medium preparation, hardware preparation, device loading, cultivation, and live-cell imaging. Three case studies which take a closer look at different challenges during MC experiments are presented: establishing MC for a new organism, performing reproducible MC experiments, and performing negative-control experiments These case studies serve as a blueprint for solving complex challenges concerning the cultivation of cells in microfluidic devices. Biosensors 2021, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW ments
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