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. 2013 May 10;3:1823. doi: 10.1038/srep01823

Figure 1. Replication of AD-Aβ environment in a microfluidic chemotaxis platform.

Figure 1

(a) We hypothesize that at early stages microglia are recruited by soluble Aβ (sAβ) (left) and at late stages co-localized with surface-bound Aβ (bAβ) near Aβ plaques and neurons in AD brains (right). (b), (c) A microfluidic chemotaxis platform models the pathological Aβ environments in AD brains and provides surface-bound Aβ inside the central compartment (CC) and gradients of soluble Aβ between the CC and the annular compartment (AC), along migration channels (MC). The axisymmetric configuration enhances the microglia counting during Aβ recruitment and the long and thin migration channels help avoid counting errors due to spontaneous migration. (d) Fluorescent images show human microglia (red) inside the AC and soluble Aβ (light green) and patterned bAβ (dark green) inside the CC. Microglia move in a gradient of sAβ between AC and CC, along the MC (left-lower inset). Microglia and bAβ co-localize in the CC after six days (right-upper inset). Scale bars, 200 μm.