Microenvironment array chip for cell culture environment screening

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Generally, cellular events(e. g., adhesion, extension, growth, apoptosis and differentiation) strongly depend on extracellular stimuli from surrounding environment composed of soluble factors and scaffolds(i. e., extracellular matrix(ECM)). In this research, we developed the "microenvironment array chip" as a new-type of the perfusion culture microchamber array chip, where cells are cultured in the discrete microchambers with the different environment composed of combination of ECMs and soluble factors. We present the high-throughput cell culture condition screening by the microenvironment array. In addition, modification of cell culture surfaces on microfluidic devices is a big issue in the field of MicroTAS. However, the micropatterning process of ECM spots on the bottom of the discrete microchambers is complicated. We developed a simple and scalable fabrication process for micropatterning of ECM in the microchamber array by O_2 plasma oxidation with physical masking. The fabrication process includes coating, O_2 plasma oxidation with physical masking, and subsequent sealing. All these process are enough simple to enable scalable production of microchamber array with ECMs.