Cell cytotoxicity analysis of adherent and suspended cancer cells using an integrated microfluidic device

In this paper, a multilayer elastomeric microfluidic device with micro cell sieves was developed for an assay of drug induced cytotoxicity. We evaluated the cytotoxic effects of anti-cancer drugs tamoxifen (TAM) and camptothecin using MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and human chronic myeloid leukaemia K562 cells respectively. To validate cell morphology and viability on the microfluidic chip, fluorescent cell viability assay was carried out using three fluorescent dyes. The results showed that TAM and camptothecin both induced cytotoxicity of the two cell types in a concentration-dependent manner. Using this scalable platform, cell seeding and anti-cancer drugs exposure can be carried out within a single microfluidic device in a multiplexed format, enabling high-density parallel cytotoxicity screening while minimizing reagent consumption.