Microfluidic Bioreactor Made of Cyclo-Olefin Polymer for Observing On-Chip Platelet Production

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Cell Biology
• Materials Science

Background:

• Previous microfluidic bioreactors using glass-Si-glass layers had limited visibility for observing platelet (PLT) production.
• Fabrication of 3D microchannels using grayscale photolithography and deep reactive ion etching presented visibility challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a transparent microfluidic bioreactor for improved observation of platelet-like particle (PLP) production.
• To enable high-sampling-rate imaging of PLP production under bright-field microscopy.
• To investigate the effectiveness of cyclo-olefin polymer (COP) for microfluidic device fabrication.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a transparent microfluidic bioreactor using cyclo-olefin polymer (COP) with a 3D microchannel.
• Investigation of COP-COP layer bonding strength.
• On-chip PLP production using immortalized megakaryocyte cell lines (imMKCLs) derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells.

Main Results:

• Successfully fabricated a transparent COP microfluidic bioreactor with a 3D microchannel.
• Confirmed effective bonding and functionality of the COP microfluidic bioreactor.
• Achieved an average of 17.6 PLPs/imMKCL, comparable to previous glass-Si-glass systems.
• Observed PLP fragmentation in narrow proplatelet-like protrusions using bright-field imaging.

Conclusions:

• The transparent COP microfluidic bioreactor facilitates detailed observation of PLP production.
• The developed bioreactor offers comparable efficiency to previous designs while enhancing imaging capabilities.
• This technology advances the study of platelet biogenesis and fragmentation dynamics.