Figure 1.

A microfluidic system with ridge-shaped obstacles for culturing HAECs under disturbed flow. (a_i−ii) The process of fabricating the main block involving a microfluidic channel with a rectangular cross-section of 5 mm × 600 μm forming the side and top walls of the system, (b_i−ii) The process of fabricating the PDMS substrate with ridge-shaped obstacles patterned on its surface forming the bottom surface of the system, (c) The process of assembling the main block and the PDMS substrate with ridge obstacles, with the inset showing the zoomed-in PDMS substrate, (d_i−iv) Flow streamlines at various flow rates of the cell culture medium applied through the microfluidic system, showing the formation and expansion of two vortices at the cavity region located between the neighboring ridges, (e) Variation of flow shear stress along the cavity region, (f) Variation of shear stress magnitude against the flow rate of the cell culture medium for the channel with ridges (disturbed flow) and the control channel without ridges (laminar flow).