Abstract
The methodical development of cell biology has resulted in significant advancements in the study of breast tumors. However, the dynamic investigation of the self-seeding process remains largely out of reach. In the present study, we describe a microvalve and liquid membrane double-controlled integrated microfluidic device that provides for the versatile assessment of breast tumor cell invasion dynamics. The liquid membrane formation was first optimized to obtain a high level of control, and was then applied to different types of homotypic and heterotypic cell seeding with precise selective positioning for monoculture and coculture. Using this device, the interaction between breast cancer cells MDA231-LM2 and MDA-MB231 was successfully observed to investigate self-seeding dynamics, including migration, infiltration, and coexistence. The results quantitatively demonstrate the mutual signal-induced attraction between MDA-MB231 and MDA231-LM2 cells, as well as the progressive infiltration of MDA231-LM2 cells into the MDA-MB231 cell population. These results are valuable in the development of spatiotemporal-controlled microfluidic systems and to many microscale-based biological and diagnostic studies involving cell growth, cell differentiation, cell interaction, and cell signal.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 20975082, 21175107, and 31100726), the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China (Grant no. NCET-08-0464), and the Northwest A&F University.
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A. Liu, W. Liu and Y. Wang contributed equally to this work.
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Liu, A., Liu, W., Wang, Y. et al. Microvalve and liquid membrane double-controlled integrated microfluidics for observing the interaction of breast cancer cells. Microfluid Nanofluid 14, 515–526 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-012-1070-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-012-1070-z