Polylactic is a Sustainable, Low Absorption, Low Autofluorescence Alternative to Other Plastics for Microfluidic and Organ-on-Chip Applications

6533b871fe1ef96bd12d246a

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Polylactic is a Sustainable, Low Absorption, Low Autofluorescence Alternative to Other Plastics for Microfluidic and Organ-on-Chip Applications

Allende Miguelez Crespo Alfredo Edoardo Ongaro Alfredo Edoardo Ongaro Alfredo Edoardo Ongaro Maïwenn Kersaudy-kerhoas Maïwenn Kersaudy-kerhoas Lina Ghibelli Eugenio Martinelli Duncan Paul Hand Vicki Stone Vanessa Mancini Krystian Lukasz Wlodarczyk Davide Di Giuseppe Virginia Pensabene Arianna Mencattini Ali Kermanizadeh Vincenzo La Carrubba Nicola M. Howarth

subject

Biocompatibility Polydimethylsiloxane 010401 analytical chemistry Microfluidics technology industry and agriculture Settore ING-IND/34 - Bioingegneria Industriale Nanotechnology macromolecular substances engineering.material 010402 general chemistry Elastomer Settore ING-INF/07 01 natural sciences 0104 chemical sciences Analytical Chemistry chemistry.chemical_compound Autofluorescence Coating Polylactic acid chemistry Biocompatibility Cell culture Diseases Elastomers Microchannels Microfluidics Polydimethylsiloxane Silicones Transparency engineering Surface modification

description

Organ-on-chip (OOC) devices are miniaturized devices replacing animal models in drug discovery and toxicology studies. The majority of OOC devices are made from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an elastomer widely used in microfluidic prototyping, but posing a number of challenges to experimentalists, including leaching of uncured oligomers and uncontrolled absorption of small compounds. Here we assess the suitability of polylactic acid (PLA) as a replacement material to PDMS for microfluidic cell culture and OOC applications. We changed the wettability of PLA substrates and demonstrated the functionalization method to be stable over a time period of at least 9 months. We successfully cultured human cells on PLA substrates and devices, without coating. We demonstrated that PLA does not absorb small molecules, is transparent (92% transparency), and has low autofluorescence. As a proof of concept of its manufacturability, biocompatibility, and transparency, we performed a cell tracking experiment of prostate cancer cells in a PLA device for advanced cell culture.

year	journal	country	edition	language
2020-05-05	Analytical Chemistry

https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.analchem.0c00651