Influence of Stem-cell Size and Culture Media Flowing Modality on Cell’s Fate within a Microchannel; a Numerical Analysis

Abstract

The dynamic cell culture process has been widely used in tissue engineering. The success of cell culture is influenced by many factors, one of which is how the cells are transferred from the bioreactor to the scaffolds through microchannels. The risk that can reduce the success of the cell culture process is that the cells do not reach the final destination correctly. In this study, the movement of stem cells through a microchannel was theoretically analysed using discrete phase computational fluid dynamics. Three factors of cell size, fluid flow rate and fluid viscosity were investigated on their sedimentation rate before reaching the microchannel outlet. Considering four sizes of 10, 15, 20 and 30 µm for cells, four flow rates of 20, 50, 90 and 180 µl/min in addition, four viscosities of 0.001, 0.005, 0.01 and 0.025 Pa.s were selected for culture media left us a total number of 64 models. The results of the analysis showed that cells with smaller size have a better chance of reaching the microchannel outlet and larger cells are more likely to sediment. Also, higher flow velocities as well as higher fluid viscosity delivering more cells to the destination. The results of this study shed more light on the regulation and control of dynamic cell culture parameters.