Vacuum-Assisted Cell Seeding in a Microwell Cell Culture System

摘要

We present a simple method to actively pattern individualncells and groups of cells in a polymer-based microdevicenusing vacuum-assisted cell seeding. Soft lithography isnused to mold polymer microwells with various geometriesnon top of commercially available porous membranes. Cellnsuspensions are placed in a vacuum filtration setup to pullnculture medium through the microdevice, trapping thencells in the microwells. The process is evaluated byndetermining the number of cells per microwell for a givenncell seeding density and microwell geometry. This methodnis tested with adherent and nonadherent cells (NIH 3T3nfibroblasts, PANC-1 pancreatic ductal epithelial-like cells,nand THP-1 monocytic leukemia cells). These devicesncould find applications in high-throughput cell screening,ncell transport studies, guided formation of cell clusters,nand tissue engineering.