Convection–diffusion molecular transport in a microfluidic bilayer device with a porous membrane
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Final Accepted Manuscript
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Dept Biomed EngnUniv Arizona, Dept Aerosp & Mech Engn
Issue Date
2019-09-21Keywords
Microfluidic bilayer deviceConvection-diffusion mass transport
Molecular concentration distribution
Metadata
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SPRINGER HEIDELBERGCitation
Frost, T.S., Estrada, V., Jiang, L. et al. Microfluid Nanofluid (2019) 23: 114. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10404-019-2283-1Journal
MICROFLUIDICS AND NANOFLUIDICSRights
Copyright © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
The field of human cell research is rapidly changing due to the introduction of microphysiological systems, which commonly feature two stacked microchannels separated by a porous membrane for in vitro barrier modeling. An essential component to adequately representing a subset of human organ or tissue functions in these microfluidic systems is the concentration distribution of the biospecies involved. In particular, when different cell types are cultured, a delicate balance between media mixing and cellular signaling is required for long-term maintenance of the cellular co-culture. In this work, we experimentally measured the effects of various control parameters on the transient and steady average molecular concentration at the bilayer device outlet. Using these experimental results for validation, we then numerically investigated the concentration distributions due to the convection–diffusion mass transport in both microchannels. The effects of media flow rate, separation membrane porosity, molecular size, microchannel dimensions and flow direction have been systematically characterized. The transient response is found to be negligible for cell co-cultures lasting several days, while the steady-state concentration distribution is dominated by the media flow rate and separation membrane porosity. Numerically computed concentration profiles reveal self-similarity characteristics featuring a diffusive boundary layer, which can be manipulated for successful maintenance of cell co-culture with limited media mixing and enhanced cell signaling.Note
12 month embargo; first online: 21 September 2019ISSN
1613-4982Version
Final accepted manuscriptSponsors
Arizona Biomedical Research Commission [ABRC ADHS14-082983]; NASA Space Grant Undergraduate Internshipae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1007/s10404-019-2283-1