Design and Preparation of a Microfluidic System for Stretching of Cells in Topographic Microstructures

In this work, a new method was proposed to construct an elastic membrane with specially designed micropillar arrays and integrate the membrane into a microfluidic chip. RFP-transfected human mesenchymal stem cells were seeded in the micropillar arrays. Cyclic stretching of cells in the topographic microstructures resulted in different cell activities (cell spreading, orientation, and migration). The cell activities were enhanced with a proper level of spatial constraint on cells. This study explored a new approach to spatially influence cell behaviors.