A neuron-benign microfluidic gradient generator for studying the growth of mammalian neurons towards axon guidance factors

The precise wiring of the nervous system is made possible by a complex navigation map created by attractive and repulsive biochemical cues, which guide the axons to their final targets. In order to unravel the mechanisms directing the growth and guidance of axons, we have designed an open-chamber mammalian-neuron-benign microfluidic platform that allows us to subject dissociated single neurons in culture to stable, precise gradients of diffusible biochemical cues, with negligible shear stress on the cells. We demonstrate (for the first time) the evidence of a directed response of dissociated mammalian neurons in vitro to a diffusible gradient of netrin.