Microfluidic Platform for Investigating Small Blood Vessels

摘要

Small resistance arteries, with diameters between 60 - 250 microns, play a key role in regulating peripheral vascular resistance by dynamically changing the artery diameter (tone), an important factor in the development of hypertension. We present a microfluidic device that allows functional and structural assays to be routinely conducted on small blood vessels, while overcoming several limitations that are associated with conventional cannulation procedures. The presented microfluidic platform was fabricated using standard multilayer soft lithographic techniques and is to our knowledge the first scalable approach with the potential to provide routine screening on an organ level. Mouse mesenteric arteries were used to obtain aggregate dose-response relationships for phenylephrine, a vaso-constrictor. Results demonstrated viability on chip and were consistent with measurements obtained in conventional cannulation systems. The presented approach may allow standardization in microvascular research and accelerate the discovery of antihypertensive drugs.