Microfluidic Cell Culture Techniques

Microfluidic cell culture systems provide new opportunities for biological studies in microscale. Although differences exist between microfluidic cell culture systems and conventional macroscale cell cultures, microfluidic cell culture systems can be integrated with other cell culture methods. Meanwhile, microfluidic cell culture systems provide novel opportunities for incorporation of different stimuli in the cell microenvironment. This chapter begins with discussion on the differences between the microfluidic and macroscale cell culture systems and related special requirements for microfluidic cell culture systems. Then we discuss how some basic cell culture techniques (including cell seeding, cell passaging, changing media, and cell concentration and dilution) are achieved in microfluidic cell culture systems. Recent studies on integrating some new techniques to provide different stimuli (including biochemical, electrical, physical) on cultured cells have been summarized. At last, we talk about some studies with microfluidic cell culture systems that have applications in clinical research.