This paper presents a preliminary investigation in the usage of the micromachining polymer material SU-8 for the noninvasive
shape control and functional study of vascular endothelial cells (ECs). We previously demonstrated a silicon
and glass modular microinstrument platform that allowed for a wide range of EC functional response studies. However,
we expect SU-8 to provide a more versatile fabrication technology and material for microchannel fabrication and
instrumentation, since it is capable of achieving high aspect ratio sensor-compatible structures through simple
photopatterning. In this paper, SU-8 microchannels were fabricated on glass slides for straightforward optical
observation and biological sampling. Channel widths ranged from 50 to 210 µm, length varied from 100 to 2100 µm,
with depth fixed at 100 µm. We plated bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) in the microchannels and used image
analysis to determine cellular elongation and orientation. Similar to silicon-on-glass microchannels, the cells become
more elongated and oriented along the microchannel axis as the width of the microchannel decreases. Initial results
indicate cells plate in the microchannels and on the SU-8 surfaces, whereas in a previous silicon microchannel study,
cells plated exclusively on the glass bottom surfaces. This finding has implications for SU-8 as a structural material for
microchannel instrumentation.
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