Sorting of Cells Using Flow Channel with Oblique Micro Grooves

摘要

Micro grooves have been designed to sort biological cells, which flows through a micro channel in vitro. The micro groove of the rectangular shape (0.0045 mm depth, and 0.2 mm length) has been fabricated on the surface of the polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) disk by the photolithography technique. Variation has been made on the width (0.03 mm < w < 0.05 mm) and on the angle between the longitudinal direction of the groove and the flow direction (45 degrees, 90 degrees) of the groove. A rectangular flow channel (0.05 mm height × 2 mm width × 15 mm length) has been constructed between two transparent PDMS disks. Four kinds of cells were used in the test: C2C12 (mouse myoblast cell line), MC3T3-E1 (mouse osteoblast precursor cell), Hepal-6 (mouse hepatoma cell), and Neuro-2a (mouse neural crest-derived cell). A flow velocity of the suspension of cells was controlled by the pressure difference between the inlet and the outlet. Neuro-2a often moves to the counter direction against the flow in the groove. The shift movement along the oblique groove depends on the several parameters: the diameter of cells, the width of the groove, the velocity of the cell, and the kinds of cells.