Abstract
Modeling tissues and organs using conventional 2D cell cultures is problematic as the cells rapidly lose their in vivo phenotype. In microfluidic bioreactors the cells reside in microstructures that are continuously perfused with cell culture medium to provide a dynamic environment mimicking the cells natural habitat. These micro scale bioreactors are sometimes referred to as organs-on-chips and are developed in order to improve and extend cell culture experiments. Here, we describe the two manufacturing techniques photolithography and soft lithography that are used in order to easily produce microfluidic bioreactors. The use of these bioreactors is exemplified by a toxicity assessment on 3D clustered human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC)-derived cardiomyocytes by beating frequency imaging.
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Acknowledgements
The research leading to these results has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement n° 115439 (StemBANCC), resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and EFPIA companies’ in kind contribution.
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Christoffersson, J., Bergström, G., Schwanke, K., Kempf, H., Zweigerdt, R., Mandenius, CF. (2016). A Microfluidic Bioreactor for Toxicity Testing of Stem Cell Derived 3D Cardiac Bodies. In: Turksen, K. (eds) Bioreactors in Stem Cell Biology. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1502. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2016_340
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/7651_2016_340
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