A 3D construct of the intestinal canal with wrinkle morphology on a centrifugation configuring microfluidic chip

A new in vitro gut microfluidic chip that mimics in vivo intestinal canal morphology and stimulation is developed to contribute to research into tissue engineering, and intestinal development and function. This strategy utilizes centrifugation to configure spatial cells along the side wall of a vertical cylinder-like microfluidic chamber, by which a tubular intestinal epithelium cell sheet is formed. Diverse intestinal cell lines are inoculated to address this approach. Furthermore, to generate microenvironmental stimulation, low-level centrifugation introduces fluid flow to this microfluidic system perpendicularly acting on cell sheet cultivation for several days. Fluid flow engenders the sectional cell sheet to bend toward the cell chamber lumen, which manifests an intestinal epithelium vaulted and wrinkle morphology. This may mimic the fluid flow existing in in vivo material transportation and the absorption of the gut epithelium barrier. In addition, the same fluid flow stimulation was reproduced in another Transwell system, which also exhibited a wrinkle epithelium cell sheet. Under fluid flow stimulation, some of the villus specific genes' expression level increased in the microfluidics and Transwell insert. Thus, this new centrifugation configuring gut microfluidic chip may offer novel insights into the research of intestinal structure and function.