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. 2023 Dec 4;17(6):064103. doi: 10.1063/5.0170606

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© 2023 Author(s).

All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Published open access through an agreement with Politecnico di Milano18981

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FIG. 1. — (a) Design of the direct-contact device. (i) The microfluidic channel layer is composed of one central channel separated from two media channels by two arrays of trapezoidal microposts. The layer comprises one self-sealing micro-guide to facilitate the manual insertion of a micro-needle. (ii) The tank layer is composed of a central channel to be aligned to the central channel of the microfluidic channel layer. (iii) Cross section with dimensions of the direct-contact platform. (iv) Fabricated DC platform. Scale bar is 1 cm. (b) General seeding procedure of the direct-contact device: (i) a stainless-steel needle is inserted through the guide of the device; (ii) a cell-laden gel is injected through the central seeding channel containing the needle; after polymerization, (iii) the needle is removed and (iv) fibronectin solution is injected to coat the lumen. Fibronectin is then removed and, after rinsing with medium, (v) endothelial cells are seeded within the lumen. Endothelial cells attach to the walls of the internal lumen to generate a cylindrical vascular channel that can then be (vi) perfused. (vii) Cross-sectional area of the direct-contact device, once all the passages to obtain the complete LoC model have been performed. (c) Characterization of the lumen through beads perfusion: (i) cylindrical channel formed with the procedure described in (b) and (ii) injection of polystyrene microbeads to verify lumen formation. Scale bars are 140 μm.