Abstract
High-aspect ratio micro- and nano-structures have been used for the production of a variety of applications. In this paper, we describe a simple and cost-effective approach to fabricate an arrayed microarchitecture with an ultra-high aspect ratio using soft materials. The shapes and sizes of the honeycomb structure can be easily modulated by changing the dimensions and position of the base mould pattern and the pressure. The honeycomb structure is used to prepare a drug delivery patch and a microwell array to form cell spheroids without cell loss. The honeycomb structures prepared using natural ECM (collagen–Matrigel) materials are successfully fabricated. The hepatocytes and endothelial cells are seeded and co-cultured in the ECM-based micro-honeycomb to prepare a 3D liver model successfully mimicking an ultrastructure of liver and providing enhanced liver function.
Highlights
High-aspect ratio micro- and nano-structures have been used for the production of a variety of applications
A 10-mm-thick layer of a highly viscous PDMS (HV-PDMS) solution was poured onto a base mould with a patterned array of holes
The air trapped in the array of holes increased in volume on application low pressures between À 20 and À 70 kPa, forming spherical bubbles in the HV-PDMS
Summary
High-aspect ratio micro- and nano-structures have been used for the production of a variety of applications. For practical applications in the biomedical field, honeycomb structures must be formed from a soft material or a natural extracellular matrix (ECM). The fabrication of such honeycomb architectures using soft materials has presented a significant challenge due to the mechanical weakness inherent in HAR walls fabricated from soft materials. Conventional methods for fabricating HAR structures include deep reactive ion etching (D-RIE)[8], lithographie–galvanoformung–abformung processes[9] and UV lithography[10,11] These approaches have provided ingenious solutions to fabricating diverse and challenging structures, they are low-throughput approaches, and the fabrication costs increase rapidly as the aspect ratio is increased. Hepatocyte and endothelial cells were seeded and cocultured in the ECM hydrogel micro-honeycomb structures to fabricate a three-dimensional (3D) liver model consisting of compact cell spheroids and vessel-like structures that provided enhanced liver functions
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