The M2 microfluidic plate offers the most advanced technology for live imaging of mammalian cells. Our pioneering microfluidic design allows long term culture of cells on your microscope stage while providing real time solution exchange.
The easy to use format and fool-proof operation allow any user to run long-term live cell imaging experiments with confidence.
The well layout of the M2 plate is schematically depicted in figure 1. Each flow unit consists of 6 wells arranged in a single row. There are three flow inlets for solution switching, an open well for imaging, a cell inlet, and a flow outlet.
The two units can be operated simultaneously, allowing comparison of two different experiment conditions with identical flow properties.
A #1.5 thickness glass bottom enables high NA imaging on an inverted microscope. The microfluidic plate will fit to any standard 96-well stage holder.
A set of air channels allows gas diffusion into the cell culture area and upstream flow channels (light blue). Due to the high gas permeability of the materials and rapid microscale diffusion, this innovative design maintains a well balanced oxygen or CO2 supply to cultured cells.
The microfluidic cell imaging design is depicted in figure 2. The culture chamber is 1x1x0.1 mm in size. Cells are introduced via a passive capillary flow method as depicted in figure 3. As cells travel down the streamlines (black arrows), they are loaded into the culture chamber, assuring a low pressure, low stress culture environment.
A key feature of the M2 design is the ability to change the solution exposed to the cells in real time. After switching the flow on the control panel, the solution in the cell culture area will completely turn over as reported in Figure 5. Cells closer to the flow inlets will experience proportionately faster exchange rates.
Flow of 2 (or 3) inlets at the same time will create a spatial gradient across the chamber, enabling cell motility and chemotaxis experiments (figure 8).
The expertly designed microfluidic network ensures rapid laminar flow exchange, continuous flows for over 3 days without refilling, and elimination of cross-flows between the exposure channels.
When imaging is not necessary (e.g. during cell attachment or growth), the plate can be kept in a standard cell culture incubator. A built-in gravity perfusion mechanism allows for many days of continuous medium flow even in the absence of a flow controller. Coupled with the passive cell loading method, pre-culture of cells in the microfluidic plates can be done in your sterile facility without the use of the flow controller. Once the cells are ready, they can be taken from the incubator to your microscope for perfusion experiments.
The small volume of the microfluidic chamber and design of the micro-chamber makes this method especially useful for limited cell samples and primary cells.
Suitable for adherent and non-adherent mammalian cell types. Please contact info@cellasic.com if you have questions regarding a particular cell type. |
