Unveiling the Potential of Droplet Generation, Sorting, Expansion, and Restoration in Microfluidic Biochips

Microfluidic biochip techniques are prominently replacing conventional biochemical analyzers by the integration of all functions necessary for biochemical analysis using microfluidics. The microfluidics of droplets offer exquisite control over the size of microliter samples to satisfy the requiremen...

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Main Authors: Yi-Lung Chiu, Ruchi Ashok Kumar Yadav, Hong-Yuan Huang, Yi-Wen Wang, Da-Jeng Yao
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2019-11-01
Series:Micromachines
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/10/11/756
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author Yi-Lung Chiu
Ruchi Ashok Kumar Yadav
Hong-Yuan Huang
Yi-Wen Wang
Da-Jeng Yao
author_facet Yi-Lung Chiu
Ruchi Ashok Kumar Yadav
Hong-Yuan Huang
Yi-Wen Wang
Da-Jeng Yao
author_sort Yi-Lung Chiu
collection DOAJ
description Microfluidic biochip techniques are prominently replacing conventional biochemical analyzers by the integration of all functions necessary for biochemical analysis using microfluidics. The microfluidics of droplets offer exquisite control over the size of microliter samples to satisfy the requirements of embryo culture, which might involve a size ranging from picoliter to nanoliter. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the mainstream material for the fabrication of microfluidic devices due to its excellent biocompatibility and simplicity of fabrication. Herein, we developed a microfluidic biomedical chip on a PDMS substrate that integrated four key functions—generation of a droplet of an emulsion, sorting, expansion and restoration, which were employed in a mouse embryo system to assess reproductive medicine. The main channel of the designed chip had width of 1200 μm and height of 500 μm. The designed microfluidic chips possessed six sections—cleaved into three inlets and three outlets—to study the key functions with five-day embryo culture. The control part of the experiment was conducted with polystyrene (PS) beads (100 μm), the same size as the murine embryos, for the purpose of testing. The outcomes of our work illustrate that the rate of success of the static droplet culture group (87.5%) is only slightly less than that of a conventional group (95%). It clearly demonstrates that a droplet-based microfluidic system can produce a droplet in a volume range from picoliter to nanoliter.
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spelling doaj.art-af4d480ecbe743648774ae7e7b5b0e012022-12-21T20:35:30ZengMDPI AGMicromachines2072-666X2019-11-01101175610.3390/mi10110756mi10110756Unveiling the Potential of Droplet Generation, Sorting, Expansion, and Restoration in Microfluidic BiochipsYi-Lung Chiu0Ruchi Ashok Kumar Yadav1Hong-Yuan Huang2Yi-Wen Wang3Da-Jeng Yao4Department of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, TaiwanDepartment of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, TaiwanDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan 33305, TaiwanDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan 33305, TaiwanDepartment of Power Mechanical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, TaiwanMicrofluidic biochip techniques are prominently replacing conventional biochemical analyzers by the integration of all functions necessary for biochemical analysis using microfluidics. The microfluidics of droplets offer exquisite control over the size of microliter samples to satisfy the requirements of embryo culture, which might involve a size ranging from picoliter to nanoliter. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the mainstream material for the fabrication of microfluidic devices due to its excellent biocompatibility and simplicity of fabrication. Herein, we developed a microfluidic biomedical chip on a PDMS substrate that integrated four key functions—generation of a droplet of an emulsion, sorting, expansion and restoration, which were employed in a mouse embryo system to assess reproductive medicine. The main channel of the designed chip had width of 1200 μm and height of 500 μm. The designed microfluidic chips possessed six sections—cleaved into three inlets and three outlets—to study the key functions with five-day embryo culture. The control part of the experiment was conducted with polystyrene (PS) beads (100 μm), the same size as the murine embryos, for the purpose of testing. The outcomes of our work illustrate that the rate of success of the static droplet culture group (87.5%) is only slightly less than that of a conventional group (95%). It clearly demonstrates that a droplet-based microfluidic system can produce a droplet in a volume range from picoliter to nanoliter.https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/10/11/756biochipcontinue microfluidic systemdroplet formationdroplet expansion and restorationand embryo culture
spellingShingle Yi-Lung Chiu
Ruchi Ashok Kumar Yadav
Hong-Yuan Huang
Yi-Wen Wang
Da-Jeng Yao
Unveiling the Potential of Droplet Generation, Sorting, Expansion, and Restoration in Microfluidic Biochips
Micromachines
biochip
continue microfluidic system
droplet formation
droplet expansion and restoration
and embryo culture
title Unveiling the Potential of Droplet Generation, Sorting, Expansion, and Restoration in Microfluidic Biochips
title_full Unveiling the Potential of Droplet Generation, Sorting, Expansion, and Restoration in Microfluidic Biochips
title_fullStr Unveiling the Potential of Droplet Generation, Sorting, Expansion, and Restoration in Microfluidic Biochips
title_full_unstemmed Unveiling the Potential of Droplet Generation, Sorting, Expansion, and Restoration in Microfluidic Biochips
title_short Unveiling the Potential of Droplet Generation, Sorting, Expansion, and Restoration in Microfluidic Biochips
title_sort unveiling the potential of droplet generation sorting expansion and restoration in microfluidic biochips
topic biochip
continue microfluidic system
droplet formation
droplet expansion and restoration
and embryo culture
url https://www.mdpi.com/2072-666X/10/11/756
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