Table 3.

Microfluidic microgels for tissue regeneration applications

Microfluidic Device	Polymerization Strategy	Biomaterial	Tissue Regeneration Application	Ref.
Capillary flow-focusing	Photopolymerization	Gel-MA	Injectable BMSC-laden microgels (160 μm) with prolonged release of BMP-2 growth factor as osteogenic tissue constructs	7
PDMS flow-focusing	Electrostatic interaction	Alginate	3D core-shell microgel scaffold (169 μm) for co-culture of hepatocyte and fibroblasts as in vitro liver model for drug screening	21
PDMS flow-focusing	Michael addition	Heparin, PEG	Bioactive microgels (120 μm) containing growth factors FGF-2 and Nodal for directed endodermal differentiation of mESCs	10
PDMS flow-focusing	Electrostatic interaction	Alginate	Alginate-RGD microgels for formation of hMSC spheroids (36, 46, 62, 84 μm) and induction of osteogenic differentiation	146
PDMS devices with integrated pneumatic microvalves	Thermal	Collagen, gelatin, agarose	Cell-laden microgels (200 μm thick) of different shapes, with single and multiple microchannels of varying shapes, for constructing biomimetic liver lobule comprising a co-culture of hepatocytes and endothelial cells, as a 3D tissue model for in vitro drug toxicity screening	9
PDMS flow-focusing	Photopolymerization	Gel-MA, silica	Cell-seeded Gel-MA microgels (100 μm) with a protective silica hydrogel shell for cell culture and injectable tissue construct	113
PDMS flow-focusing	Michael addition	PEG-VS + RGD, K, and Q peptides	Injectable scaffold assembled from annealed microgel building blocks (30–150 μm) for accelerated wound healing	176
PDMS flow-focusing	Electrostatic interaction	Alginate, collagen	Co-culture of hepatocyte-EPC composite spheroids (~80 μm) in alginate-collagen microgels for enhancing hepatocellular functions	162