Development of living cell microarrays using non-contact micropipette printing

During the last 30 years cellular screening systems were unidirectional developed towards high throughput applications on single cell level. We developed living cell microarrays, which provide an in vivo-like microenvironment for an advanced method to measure cellular response to external stimuli. To print living cells on glass slides, the classic microarray equipment, which involves printer and scanner, was fully transferred to suspensions of living cells. The microarray production was optimized using a contact-free spotting procedure in order to enhanced cell adhesion and growth rates. The printed model cells, A-549 (lung cancer cell line), were analyzed with conventional cell staining assays like DAPI (cell nuclei staining), calcein acetoxymethyl ester (viable cell staining), and CellTiter-Blue(®) Cell Viability Assay. After optimization, a reproducible (spot-to-spot variation: ± 8.6 cells) printing method for small living cell amounts (1200 cells and fewer) was established that achieved cell viabilities of up to 88% for ≥ 0.6 μL and good proliferation characteristics. Hence, this method could be advantageous for use in biomedical and diagnostic applications.