Hydrogel-based microfluidic systems for co-culture of cells

Currently, in vivo cellular microenvironments are not well modeled using traditional cell culture methods. Microfluidic technology provides the tools to mimic in vivo environments for cell culture. We use alginate hydrogels to reversibly trap and release cells for incubation. The porous nature of alginate gels resembles the natural extracellular matrix and allows the transport of nutrients and waste. This property makes it an ideal cell trapping and culturing material. Here, we present reversible immobilization of human fetal lung fibroblasts (HFL1) and human hepatocellular liver carcinoma cell (Hep G2) inside microfluidic channels and demonstrate the possibility of co-culturing these two cell types within different alginate gel layers.