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A microfluidic system for the study of the response of endothelial cells under pressure

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Abstract

Hydrostatic pressure can affect the structure and function of endothelial cells (ECs). A microfluidic system was built to study how ECs respond to applied pressure. The system included a syringe pump, a PDMS-glass microfluidic chip, and a digital manometer for pressure monitoring. The manometer was connected with the chip in two ways (one was before the inlet and the other after the outlet of the microchannel). The static control and flowing control systems were also set up. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured in the 4 cm × 2 mm × 100 μm channel. Pressure of 12 ± 0.5 or 18 ± 0.5 kPa was applied on the cells for 8 h. The F-actin cytoskeleton and the nuclei of the cells were stained for examination and endothelin-1 (ET-1) released from the cells in the channel was assayed by ELISA. The results showed that the cell area and ET-1 concentration increased with the pressure and a higher pressure caused more damages to the cells. This microfluidic system provides a convenient and cost-effective platform for the studies of cell response to pressure.

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Acknowledgments

The work was supported by National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2011CB933102), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61078074 and 11004205) and Hong Kong RGC (No. GRF604712). The authors thank Dr. **g Li from the School of Public Health, Peking University, for his kind permission to use the microplate reader. The authors also express gratitude to Dr. Zhizhu He for helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Cryogenics & Bei**g Key Laboratory of Cryo-Biomedical Engineering, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry (TIPC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Bei**g, 100190, China

    Lei Li, Yang Yang & **g Liu

  2. WPI Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, 2-1-1 Katahira, Aoba-ku, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan

    Xuetao Shi & Hongkai Wu

  3. Department of Chemistry, Hongkong University of Science and Technology, Hongkong, China

    Hongkai Wu

  4. State Key Laboratory of Integrated Optoelectronics, Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, China

    Hongda Chen

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  1. Lei Li
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  2. Yang Yang
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  3. Xuetao Shi
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  4. Hongkai Wu
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  5. Hongda Chen
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  6. **g Liu
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Correspondence to Lei Li or Hongkai Wu.

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Li, L., Yang, Y., Shi, X. et al. A microfluidic system for the study of the response of endothelial cells under pressure. Microfluid Nanofluid 16, 1089–1096 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-013-1275-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-013-1275-9

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