PDMS device for patterned application of microfluids to neuronal cells arranged by microcontact printing

A microfluidic device in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) consisting of an eight lines micro-injection array integrated in a base flow channel has been realized. The device is assembled from multiple PDMS parts, which have been moulded using notably micromachined masters in SU-8 photoresist. In contact with a planar substrate, up to eight independent laminar flow lines with cross-sections of 100 x 200 microm(2) can be generated. Dedicated for the application of pharmaceutical compounds to electrogenic cells in vitro, this device was tested with a neuronal cell line, Mz1-cells. These were cultured on lines of laminin deposited onto polystyrene substrates by microcontact printing. We were able to inject into this culture multiple lines of coloured PBS in parallel to the orientation of cellular growth. No mixing between the individual flow lines did occur.