Hydrogels: The Next Generation Body Materials for Microfluidic Chips?

Abstract

Figure 7. Display of the application of the HMCs in A) organ-on-a-chip, B) vascular model, C) point-of-care and personalized medicine. A-i) The construction of articular cartilage on a microfluidic device constructed with stem cell-laden hydrogel. Reproduced with permission. [228] Copyright 2012, John Wiley and Sons. A-ii) Osteogenic differentiation of thick vascularized tissue. Reproduced with permission. [176] Copyright 2016, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (NAS). A-iii) Schematic illustration of the liver-on-a-chip. Reproduced with permission. [224] Copyright 2016, Royal Society of Chemistry. B-i) Maturation of coaxial cell printed vasculatures Reproduced with permission. [22] Copyright 2018, John Wiley and Sons. B-ii) Endothelial cell-seeded stenosis and spiral microchannels. Reproduced with permission. [184] Copyright 2018, John Wiley and Sons. B-iii)Images of sprouting and migrating ECs in response to gradients of factors. Reproduced with permission. [28] Copyright 2013, the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (NAS). C-i) Personalized assessment of vascular physiological and pathological functions. Reproduced with permission. [22] Copyright 2018, John Wiley and Sons. C-ii) General schematic of the in vitro model of tumor cell extravasation. Reproduced with permission. [229] Copyright 2013, Public Library of Science. C-iii) Schematic of a gut-organoid constructed through creating multiple channels in hydrogel to imitate endothelial and epithelial cocultures. Reproduced with permission. [183] Copyright 2018, John Wiley and Sons. C-iv) Schematic of the microfluidic cell culture assay. Reproduced with permission. [14] Copyright 2012, Springer Nature. C-v) Schematic of the generation of a 3D glioblastoma-vascular niche. [230] Copyright 2015, 41st Annual Northeast Biomedical Engineering Conference (NEBEC).

Recent progress in the fabrication of flexible materials for wearable sensors

“…Nie et al proposed the design of a microfluidic chip based on a hydrogel, in which the hydrogel is the main material of the microfluidic chip. 107 However, there are no specific solutions to the process improvement problems caused by material replacement. Wang et al loaded acetylcholine chloride molecules, which stimulate the secretion of sweat glands, on a layer of hydrogel to promote sweat secretion and collect the sweat by making use of the drug-carrying characteristics of hydrogels.…”

Microfluidic technology and its application in the point-of-care testing field

“…In recent years, with the rise in 3D printing technology, photosensitive resin has become an optional material for microfluidic chips. Hydrogel material ( Nie et al, 2020 ) is a new type of biological material that can be used for repairing biological tissue and bone, cell transplantation, and skin wound healing materials. Owing to its unique physical and chemical properties, hydrogel materials have become a hot topic in biology, chemistry, materials, and other fields.…”

3D Bioprinting Strategies, Challenges, and Opportunities to Model the Lung Tissue Microenvironment and Its Function

“…However, applying dynamic forces to hydrogel-based tissue constructs can be challenging. The integration of microfluidics with hydrogel-based cell culture systems has been proposed as a solution to realize dynamic forces in these systems ( Nie, Fu, and He 2020 ). For example, Abbasi et al introduced a “pop-it” mechanism to connect hydrogel-based systems with fluidic channels in a reversible fashion ( Abbasi et al, 2021 ).…”