Solvent shifting" is a process in which a non-solvent is added to a solvent/solute mixture and extracts the solvent. The solvent and the non-solvent are miscible. Because of solution supersaturation a portion of the solute transforms to droplets. In this paper, based on this process, we present an investigation on droplet formation and their radial motion in a microfluidic device in which a jet is injected in a co-flowing liquid stream. Thanks to the laminar flow, the microfluidic setup enables studying diffusion mass transfer in radial direction and obtaining well-defined concentration distributions. Such profiles together with Ternary Phase Diagram (TPD) give detailed information about the conditions for droplet formation condition as well as their radial migration in the channel. The ternary system is composed of ethanol (solvent), de-ionized water (non-solvent) and divinyle benzene (solute). We employ analytical/numerical solutions of the diffusion equation to obtain concentration profiles of the components. We show that in the system under study droplets are formed in a region of the phase diagram between the binodal and the spinodal, i.e. via a thermally activated process. The droplets are driven to the channel centerline by the solutal Marangoni effect but are not able to significantly penetrate into the single-phase region, where they get rapidly dissolved. Therefore, the radial motion of the binodal surface carries the droplets to the centerline where they get collected.
Tissue and stem cell encapsulation andtransplantation were considered as promising tools in the treatment of patients with diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of microfluidic encapsulation on the differentiation of trabecular meshwork mesenchymal stem cells (TM-MSC), into insulin-producing cells (IPCs) both in vitro and in vivo. The presence of differentiated cells in microfibers (three dimensional [3D]) and tissue culture plates (TCPS; two dimensional [2D]) culture was evaluated by detecting mRNA and protein expression of pancreatic islet-specific markers as well as measuring insulin release of cells in response to glucose challenges.Finally, semi-differentiated cells in microfibers (3D) and 2D cultures were used to control the glucose level in diabetic rats. The results of this study showed that MSCs differentiated in alginate microfibers (fabricated by microfluidic device) express more Pdx-1 mRNA (1.938-fold, p-value: 0.0425) and Insulin mRNA (2.841-fold, p-value: 0.0001) compared with those cultured on TCPS. Furthermore, cell encapsulation in microfluidic derived microfibers decreased the level of blood glucose in diabetic rats.The approach used in this study showed the possibility of alginate microfibers as a matrix for differentiation of TM-MSCs (as a new source) into IPCs. In addition, it could minimize different steps in stem cell differentiation, handling, and encapsulation, which lead to loss of an unlimited number of cells. K E Y W O R D S diabetes mellitus, encapsulation, insulin-producing cells (IPCs), microfluidics, trabecular meshwork mesenchymal stem cells (TM-MSCs)
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