Inspired by the game of "pinball" where rolling metal balls are guided by obstacles, here we describe a novel microfluidic technique which utilizes micropillars in a flow channel to continuously generate, encapsulate and guide Layer-by-Layer (LbL) polyelectrolyte microcapsules. Droplet-based microfluidic techniques were exploited to generate oil droplets which were smoothly guided along a row of micropillars to repeatedly travel through three parallel laminar streams consisting of two polymers and a washing solution. Devices were prototyped in PDMS and generated highly monodisperse and stable 45±2 µm sized polyelectrolyte microcapsules. A total of six layers of hydrogen bonded polyelectrolytes (3 bi-layers) were adsorbed on each droplet within <3 minutes and a fluorescent intensity measurement confirmed polymer film deposition. AFM analysis revealed the thickness of each polymer layer to be approx. 2.8 nm. Our design approach not only provides a faster and more efficient alternative to conventional LbL deposition techniques, but also achieves the highest number of polyelectrolyte multilayers (PEMs) reported thus far using microfluidics. Additionally, with our design, a larger number of PEMs can be deposited without adding any extra operational or interfacial complexities (e.g. syringe pumps) which are a necessity in most other designs. Based on the aforementioned advantages of our device, it may be developed into a great tool for drug encapsulation, or to create capsules for biosensing where deposition of thin nanofilms with controlled interfacial properties is highly required.

We present the design, modeling, fabrication and testing of a microsystem for the electrolytic patterning and sensing of oxidative microgradients within 1 x 1 mm2 area during cell culture. The system employs an array of microfabricated electrodes (3-40 microm in width) embedded in gas-permeable microchannels to generate precise doses of dissolved oxygen (ranging from 10 fmol O2 mm(-2) s(-1) to 100 nmol O2 mm(-2) s(-1)) via electrolysis. The microgradients generated by different microelectrodes in the array can be superimposed to pattern multi-dimensional oxygen profiles not possible with other methods. We demonstrate the patterning, sensing and quantification of dissolved oxygen microgradients in the 0 to 40% dO2 range using this microsystem. Reactive oxygen species generation and dosing is also quantified. Lastly, we demonstrate how the microtechnology enables new types of experiments in three different cell culture models: localized hyperoxia-induced apoptosis in C2C12 myoblasts, dynamic aerotaxis assays of Bacillus subtilis, and studies of calcium release in an ischemia/re-oxygenation myoblast model.

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