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Quirós-Solano WF, Gaio N, Stassen OMJA, Arik YB, Silvestri C, Van Engeland NCA, Van der Meer A, Passier R, Sahlgren CM, Bouten CVC, van den Berg A, Dekker R, Sarro PM. Microfabricated tuneable and transferable porous PDMS membranes for Organs-on-Chips. Sci Rep 2018; 8:13524. [PMID: 30202042 PMCID: PMC6131253 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-31912-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2018] [Accepted: 08/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
We present a novel and highly reproducible process to fabricate transferable porous PDMS membranes for PDMS-based Organs-on-Chips (OOCs) using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) fabrication technologies. Porous PDMS membranes with pore sizes down to 2.0 μm in diameter and a wide porosity range (2-65%) can be fabricated. To overcome issues normally faced when using replica moulding and extend the applicability to most OOCs and improve their scalability and reproducibility, the process includes a sacrificial layer to easily transfer the membranes from a silicon carrier to any PDMS-based OOC. The highly reliable fabrication and transfer method does not need of manual handling to define the pore features (size, distribution), allowing very thin (<10 μm) functional membranes to be transferred at chip level with a high success rate (85%). The viability of cell culturing on the porous membranes was assessed by culturing two different cell types on transferred membranes in two different OOCs. Human umbilical endothelial cells (HUVEC) and MDA-MB-231 (MDA) cells were successfully cultured confirming the viability of cell culturing and the biocompatibility of the membranes. The results demonstrate the potential of controlling the porous membrane features to study cell mechanisms such as transmigrations, monolayer formation, and barrier function. The high control over the membrane characteristics might consequently allow to intentionally trigger or prevent certain cellular responses or mechanisms when studying human physiology and pathology using OOCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- W F Quirós-Solano
- Delft University of Technology, Department of Microelectronics, Electronic Components, Technology and Materials (ECTM), Delft, 2628, CD, The Netherlands.
| | - N Gaio
- Delft University of Technology, Department of Microelectronics, Electronic Components, Technology and Materials (ECTM), Delft, 2628, CD, The Netherlands
- BIOND Solutions B.V., Delft, 2628, CD, The Netherlands
| | - O M J A Stassen
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology (STEM), Eindhoven, 5600, MB, The Netherlands
| | - Y B Arik
- University of Twente, Applied Stem Cell Technologies, MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, Enschede, 7500, AE, The Netherlands
- University of Twente, BIOS Lab on a Chip group, MIRA and MESA, Institute for Nanotechnology, Enschede, 7500, AE, The Netherlands
| | - C Silvestri
- BIOND Solutions B.V., Delft, 2628, CD, The Netherlands
| | - N C A Van Engeland
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology (STEM), Eindhoven, 5600, MB, The Netherlands
- Abo Akademi University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Molecular Biosciences, Turku, FI-20500, Finland
| | - A Van der Meer
- University of Twente, Applied Stem Cell Technologies, MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, Enschede, 7500, AE, The Netherlands
| | - R Passier
- University of Twente, Applied Stem Cell Technologies, MIRA Institute for Biomedical Technology and Technical Medicine, Enschede, 7500, AE, The Netherlands
| | - C M Sahlgren
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology (STEM), Eindhoven, 5600, MB, The Netherlands
- Abo Akademi University, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Molecular Biosciences, Turku, FI-20500, Finland
| | - C V C Bouten
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Soft Tissue Engineering and Mechanobiology (STEM), Eindhoven, 5600, MB, The Netherlands
- Eindhoven University of Technology, Institute for Complex Molecular Systems (ICMS), Eindhoven, 5600, MB, The Netherlands
| | - A van den Berg
- University of Twente, BIOS Lab on a Chip group, MIRA and MESA, Institute for Nanotechnology, Enschede, 7500, AE, The Netherlands
| | - R Dekker
- Delft University of Technology, Department of Microelectronics, Electronic Components, Technology and Materials (ECTM), Delft, 2628, CD, The Netherlands
- Phillips, Philips Research, Eindhoven, 5656, AE, The Netherlands
| | - P M Sarro
- Delft University of Technology, Department of Microelectronics, Electronic Components, Technology and Materials (ECTM), Delft, 2628, CD, The Netherlands
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