Cardiac-like flow generator for long-term imaging of endothelial cell responses to circulatory pulsatile flow at microscale†
Abstract
In vitro models of circulatory hemodynamics are required to mimic the microcirculation for study of endothelial cell responses to pulsatile shear stress by live cell imaging. This study reports the design, fabrication and characterisation of a microfluidic device that generates cardiac-like flow in a continuous culture system with a circulatory volume of only 2–3 μL. The device mimics a single chamber heart, with the following cardiac phases: (1) closure of the ventricle inlet valve, (2) contraction of the ventricle (systole) followed by opening of the outlet valve and (3) relaxation of the ventricle (diastole) with opening of the inlet valve whilst the outlet valve remains closed. Periodic valve states and ventricular contractions were actuated by microprocessor controlled pneumatics. The time-dependent velocity-field was characterised by micro-