Arched microfluidic channel for the promotion of axonal growth performance

Menghua Liu; Anping Wu; Jiaxin Liu; Hen-Wei Huang; Yang Li; Qing Shi; Qiang Huang; Huaping Wang

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.110885

Arched microfluidic channel for the promotion of axonal growth performance

iScience. 2024 Sep 4;27(10):110885. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110885. eCollection 2024 Oct 18.

Authors

Menghua Liu¹, Anping Wu¹, Jiaxin Liu¹, Hen-Wei Huang², Yang Li³, Qing Shi⁴, Qiang Huang⁴, Huaping Wang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Intelligent Robotics Institute, School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
² Laboratory for Translational Engineering, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
³ Peking University First Hospital, Xicheng District, Beijing 100034, China.
⁴ Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Intelligent Robots and Systems, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Biomimetic Robots and Systems (Beijing Institute of Technology), Ministry of Education, Beijing 100081, China.

Abstract

Uniformly distributed fluid shear stress can promote axonal growth, aiding in the efficient construction of functional neural interfaces. However, challenges remain in the construction of the micro-scale environment with a uniform fluidic stress distribution. In this study, we designed and fabricated a microfluidic chip with arched-section microfluidic channels (AMCs) to increase primary cortical neuron growth rate and terminal number by constructing a uniform-stress-distributed environment. Inspired by the three-dimensional (3D) microenvironment where cerebrospinal-fluid-contacting neurons are located, the surface curvature of the traditional rectangular-section microfluidic channel (RMC) was adjusted to construct structures with 3D curved surfaces. Compared with those on the RMC chips, the average growth rate of the axons on the AMC chips increased by 8.9% within 19 days, and the average number of terminals increased by 14.9%. This platform provides a structure that can effectively promote neuron growth and has potential in constructing more complex functional neural interfaces.

Keywords: Neuroscience; Tissue Engineering.