Development of a Microfluidic Vibrational Cleaning System for Cleaning Microtissues

Abstract

Microtissues can be cultured on the hydrogel, liquid crystal substrate and scaffolds. Therefore, a cleaner has been developed to clean the microtissue extracted from the culture substrate such as the cholesteryl ester liquid crystal (CELC). Clean microtissue samples were required for the precise experimental output. The cleaner performance was verified by observing the CELC’s birefringence properties around microtissue through cross-polarising microscope. In addition, the effects of mechanical vibration that generated by the microtissue cleaner onto the microtissue sample were investigated by live/dead cells assay. Based on the results, 3D microtissue cleaner was effectively cleaned microtissue after three replicated cleaning steps. Two minutes of continuous vibration frequency at 148 Hz and acceleration of 0.89 Grms were suitable to clean the microtissue.