96-well format-based microfluidic platform for parallel interconnection of multiple multicellular spheroids

In this article, we present a microfluidic platform, compatible with conventional 96-well formats, that enables facile and parallelized culturing and testing of spherical microtissues in a standard incubator. The platform can accommodate multiple microtissues (up to 66) of different cell types, formed externally by using the hanging-drop method, and enables microtissue interconnection through microfluidic channels for continuous media perfusion or dosage of substances. The platform contains 11 separate channels, and each channel has six tissue compartments. Primary rat liver tissues were cultured over 8 days, and multiple tumor tissues (HCT116) were exposed to various concentrations of 5-fluorouracil for platform characterization.