A rapid co-culture stamping device for studying intercellular communication

作者：Hassanzadeh Barforoushi Amin; Shemesh Jonathan; Farbehi Nona; Asadnia Mohsen; Yeoh Guan Heng; Harvey Richard P; Nordon Robert E; Warkiani Majid Ebrahimi^*

来源：Scientific Reports, 2016, 6(1): 35618.

DOI：10.1038/srep35618

Regulation of tissue development and repair depends on communication between neighbouring cells. Recent advances in cell micro-contact printing and microfluidics have facilitated the in-vitro study of homotypic and heterotypic cell-cell interaction. Nonetheless, these techniques are still complicated to perform and as a result, are seldom used by biologists. We report here development of a temporarily sealed microfluidic stamping device which utilizes a novel valve design for patterning two adherent cell lines with well-defined interlacing configurations to study cell-cell interactions. We demonstrate post-stamping cell viability of >95%, the stamping of multiple adherent cell types, and the ability to control the seeded cell density. We also show viability, proliferation and migration of cultured cells, enabling analysis of co-culture boundary conditions on cell fate. We also developed an in-vitro model of endothelial and cardiac stem cell interactions, which are thought to regulate coronary repair after myocardial injury. The stamp is fabricated using microfabrication techniques, is operated with a lab pipettor and uses very low reagent volumes of 20 mu l with cell injection efficiency of >70%. This easy-to-use device provides a general strategy for micro-patterning of multiple cell types and will be important for studying cell-cell interactions in a multitude of applications.

• 出版日期2016-10-18
• 单位河北医科大学