Integrating conductive electrodes into hydrogel-based microfluidic chips for real-time monitoring of cell response

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2024

Abstract

The conventional real-time screening in organs-on-chips is limited to optical tracking of pre-tagged cells and biological agents. This work introduces an efficient biofabrication protocol to integrate tunable hydrogel electrodes into 3D bioprinted-on-chips. We established our method of fabricating cell-laden hydrogel-based microfluidic chips through digital light processing-based 3D bioprinting. Our conductive ink includes poly-(3,4-ethylene-dioxythiophene)-polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT: PSS) microparticles doped in polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA). We optimized the manufacturing process of PEDOT: PSS microparticles characterized our conductive ink for different 3D bioprinting parameters, geometries, and materials conditions. While the literature is limited to 0.5% w/v for PEDOT: PSS microparticle concentration, we increased their concentration to 5% w/v with superior biological responses. We measured the conductivity in the 3–15 m/m for a range of 0.5%–5% w/v microparticles, and we showed the effectiveness of 3D-printed electrodes for predicting cell responses when encapsulated in gelatin-methacryloyl (GelMA). Interestingly, a higher cellular activity was observed in the case of 5% w/v microparticles compared to 0.5% w/v microparticles. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements indicated significant differences in cell densities and spheroid sizes embedded in GelMA microtissues.

Identifier

85203538383 (Scopus)

Publication Title

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology

External Full Text Location

https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2024.1421592

e-ISSN

22964185

Volume

12

Grant

2243506

Fund Ref

Directorate for Biological Sciences

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