Circular-shaped microfluidic device to study the effect of shear stress on cellular orientation

Da Yeon Park; Tae Hyeon Kim; Jong Min Lee; Christian D Ahrberg; Bong Geun Chung

doi:10.1002/elps.201800109

Circular-shaped microfluidic device to study the effect of shear stress on cellular orientation

Electrophoresis. 2018 Apr 16. doi: 10.1002/elps.201800109. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Da Yeon Park¹, Tae Hyeon Kim², Jong Min Lee², Christian D Ahrberg³, Bong Geun Chung²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea.
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea.
³ Research Center, Sogang University, Seoul, Korea.

PMID: 29659029
DOI: 10.1002/elps.201800109

Abstract

Understanding the effects of shear stress on mammalian cells is a crucial factor for understanding a number of biological processes and diseases. Here, we show the development of a circular-shaped microfluidic device for the facile generation of shear stress gradients. With this microfluidic device, the effect of shear stress on orientation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells was studied. This microfluidic device, which enables to control the alignment of human umbilical vein endothelial cells within a microchannel, can be a valuable tool to mimic blood vessels.

Keywords: Cellular orientation; Circular-shaped microfluidic device; Shear stress.