Table 2.

Properties and benefits of cell culture in microfluidic devices [97]

Property of microfluidic systems	Benefit for cell culture
Small chip size and microchannels on the cellular length scale (5–500 μm)	-Reduced sample/reagent consumption -Numerous cell coculture in a single device -Faster transfer of cell culture medium and heat, i.e., short equilibration time
2D or 3D network and structure	-Simulating in vivo cell growth development
The feasibility to integrate multiple microfluidic devices on a chip	-Integrate with fluid handling operations for efficient and high-throughput cellular analysis -Integrate with detection functionality for in situ monitoring of cellular events -Integrate with functionality for temperature control of the cellular microenvironment etc.