Study on Microfluidic Chip Flow Rate Uniformity for Cell Activity Detection.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Microfluidics
• Cell Biology

Background:

• Accurate cell viability detection relies on uniform medium distribution within microfluidic chips.
• Non-uniform flow rates in conventional single-channel designs can compromise experimental results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and evaluate a multichannel microfluidic chip for achieving uniform medium flow rates.
• To enhance the accuracy of cell viability detection through improved fluid dynamics.

Main Methods:

• Design of a multichannel microfluidic chip incorporating cell injection, vascular-shaped medium channels, buffer zones, and a culture chamber.
• Comparative analysis of flow rate distribution using COMSOL Multiphysics simulations and particle velocimetry experiments.
• Evaluation of both multichannel and single-channel microfluidic chip designs.

Main Results:

• The multichannel microfluidic chip demonstrated significantly more uniform and smoother medium flow distribution within the culture chamber compared to single-channel designs.
• Simulations and experiments showed a >13-fold reduction in maximum flow rate difference in the multichannel chip at 0.5 μL/min perfusion rate.
• The multichannel design ensures consistent medium supply, crucial for reliable cell culture and analysis.

Conclusions:

• The developed multichannel microfluidic chip effectively achieves uniform medium flow, optimizing conditions for cell viability detection.
• This improved flow uniformity directly translates to enhanced accuracy in cell viability assays.
• The findings support the adoption of multichannel microfluidic systems for more reliable biological detection methods.