Heterogeneous tissue construction by on-demand bubble-assisted acoustic patterning

Lab Chip. 2023 May 2;23(9):2206-2216. doi: 10.1039/d3lc00122a.

Abstract

Highly heterogeneous structures are closely related to the realization of the tissue functions of living organisms. However, precisely controlling the assembly of heterogeneous structures is still a crucial challenge. This work presents an on-demand bubble-assisted acoustic method for active cell patterning to achieve high-precision heterogeneous structures. Active cell patterning is achieved by the combined effect of acoustic radiation forces and microstreaming around oscillating bubble arrays. On-demand bubble arrays allow flexible construction of cell patterns with a precision of up to 45 μm. As a typical example, the in vitro model of hepatic lobules, composed of patterned endothelial cells and hepatic parenchymal cells, was constructed and cultured for 5 days. The good performance of urea and albumin secretion, enzymatic activity and good proliferation of both cells prove the feasibility of this technique. Overall, this bubble-assisted acoustic approach provides a simple and efficient strategy for on-demand large-area tissue construction, with considerable potential for different tissue model fabrication.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acoustics*
  • Cell Line
  • Endothelial Cells
  • Hepatocytes*
  • Humans