Electroporation of micro-droplet encapsulated HeLa cells in oil phase

Electroporation (EP) is a method widely used to introduce foreign genes, drugs or dyes into cells by permeabilizing the plasma membrane with an external electric field. A variety of microfluidic EP devices have been reported so far. However, further integration of prior and posterior EP processes turns out to be very complicated, mainly due to the difficulty of developing an efficient method for precise manipulation of cells in microfluidics. In this study, by means of a T-junction structure within a delicate microfluidic device, we encapsulated HeLa cells in micro-droplet of poration medium in oil phase before EP, which has two advantages: (i) precise control of cell-encapsulating droplets in oil phase is much easier than the control of cell populations or individuals in aqueous buffers; (ii) this can minimize the electrochemical reactions on the electrodes. Finally, we successfully introduced fluorescent dyes into the micro-droplet encapsulated HeLa cells in oil phase. Our results reflected a novel way to realize the integrated biomicrofluidic system for EP.