Configurations of a flow injection system for perfusion studies of adherent cells

This paper describes three configurations of a flow injection apparatus designed to be the fluidic drive for perfusion studies of cultured adherent cells. The apparatus was coupled to a flow-through perfusion chamber that was specifically designed for live cell perfusion using fluorescence microscopy as the detector. The instrument consists of two linear syringe pumps and a multiposition selector valve which, under computer control, allowed sequential injection, fluid switching, and flow injection to be performed with minimal system reconfiguration. When the apparatus is coupled to a dual inlet perfusion chamber, target cells can be exposed to very steep reagent pulses, while the traditional single inlet perfusion chamber allows more flexibility and provides a more gradual increase in reagent concentration. The most significant salient feature of the system is the ability to generate very steep pulses--a desirable feature for cell perfusion studies.