Microsystem with micropillar array for three- (gel-embaded) and two-dimensional cardiac cell culture

This work presents a micropillar-based microfluidic system, which was designed mainly for three-dimensional (3D) cardiac cell culture, but it can be also used for two-dimensional (2D) cell culture. 3D cell culture was based on the use of the hydrogel, which is gelled by the contact with culture medium inside the microsystem. The geometry of the designed microsystem provided gelation of the liquid hydrogel-cells mixture (3D) and location of the cells (2D) in the middle of the main microchannel. This process was facilitated by the presence of micropillar array. Furthermore, the integration of the designed microsystem with the multi-well plate reader allowed to monitor cell proliferation in situ during the cultures. The designed microsystem was successfully applied to 3D and 2D human cardiomyocytes cultures for 4 days. It was also used as cardiac cell culture model for the investigation of isoproterenol cytotoxicity. The results of both cultures in the designed microsystem indicated that cardiomyocytes proliferated better in 3D than 2D conditions and the cytotoxic effect of investigated drug was lower in 3D than 2D culture. We suggest that the presented microsystem could be a promising microfluidic heart model for analysis of various drugs.