Multi-well Plate Channel Device with Reversible Seals

Authors

Haipeng Zhang, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Timothy Wei, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Sangjin Ryu, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

2020

Citation

Zhang H, Wei T, Ryu S (2020) Multi-well Plate Channel Device with Reversible Seals, Poster Presentation, UNL Spring Research Fair, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Comments

Copyright 2020 by the authors

Abstract

Atherosclerosis is a cardiovascular disease which causes over 26,000 yearly deaths in the United States. This disease involves accumulation of substances in arterial walls (or plaques) that occurs frequently to arterial regions experiencing low shear stress, such as bends and bifurcations. A possible reason of plaque growth in arterial walls is the change of endothelial cell (EC)’s shape, which is related to fluid shear stresses tangentially acting on intimal layer (the EC surface) of the arterial wall. Lambert et al. studied the relationship between EC shape and shear stress (Lambert et al., 2019) using a BioFlux system (Fluxion Bioscienes) and premade multi-well plate microchannel devices to apply controlled shear stress to ECs cultured in the microchannel. The premade channel devices have limitations in culturing multiple cell types together and harvesting cells after shear stress exposure for downstream biological analyses. To overcome these limitations, this study aims to develop a multi-well plate channel device with reversible seals that can be assembled with cellular co-cultures in the channel and then be disassembled after flow experiment for harvesting stimulated ECs.

Multi-well plate channel devices with reversible seals, which can be used with a commercial BioFlux system, are being developed for in vitro flow assays of endothelial cells for atherosclerosis study. The developed device can accommodate coculture of large volume of cells and easier cell harvest after flow experiments. Flow velocity measurement was done by particle tracing only in the limited area, and CFD simulation was used to analyze the whole flow field in the main channel and to optimize the channel design for larger area of uniform shear stress. More rigorous flow velocity measurement will be conducted by using the particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) method as shown below. The developed device will be used for applying controlled flow shear stress to a large volume of atherosclerosis-plaque-mimicking co-culture of ECs and other cells.