Development of a cell cultureplatform in PDMS : Microfluidic systems for in vitro productionof platelets

To be able to effectively study blood platelets in different environments adevelopment of an in vitro model of a microfluidic system for plateletproduction was started. The purpose of this thesis was to fabricate systemsand then characterize them and visualize the flow. The system consists of twochannels, one in the middle and the other one enclosing it. They are connectedthrough pores where Megakaryocytes can protrude through and produce platelets.The designs were produced in PDMS. This was done by first transfer the designsas structures onto a silicon wafer through UV lithography. The wafer served asa mould for casting PDMS that later was bonded to glass. The systems were thenstudied with three different methods. Computer simulations, flow tests andultimately tests with cells. From the results new designs were made andfabricated. The new designs were then tested the same ways as the first ones.The systems can most probably produce platelets with some optimisation of thetest parameters. No definite results were gathered to prove plateletproduction. Different flow speeds were tested and the flow profile atdifferent flow rates was visualised. The full capability of the new designscould not be fully studied due to unforeseen debris of PDMS clogging thechannels. A few things need to be done to achieve better results and establishfor sure if this method of producing platelets is possible. This thesis is agood ground for future work to stand on