Manipulating and studying triglyceride droplets in microfluidic devices

Triglyceride is the main lipid class in nature, found as droplets in both living systems and man-made products (such as manufactured foods and drugs). Characterizing triglyceride droplets in situ in these systems is complex due to many environmental interactions. To answer basic research questions about droplet formation, structuration, stability, or degradation, microfluidic strategies were developed, allowing well-controlled droplets to be formed, manipulated, and studied. In this review, these strategies are described, starting with the presentation of droplet production devices, with applications essentially related to microencapsulation and delivery, then detailing methods to monitor droplet degradation in situ and in real time, finishing with microfluidic platforms allowing the investigation of many aspects of biological lipid droplets simultaneously.