Verification of microfluidic transfection device
Chaotic advection is a hydrodynamic phenomenon in which enhances
stretching and folding of particle interfaces. This modification of
fluid-fluid boundaries augments interfacial area (Aref, 1984).Increasing
mixing and diffusion is of special importance in flows containing large
biomolecules and cells. However, flow in small length-scale microfluidic
device is generally laminar with low Reynolds number but
special-designed device can lead to spatial advection which cause
enhanced agitation in micrometer dimensions. Producing chaotic motion
across the cell surface will enable each target plasmid to eventually
visit every cell, which will increase the probability of target DNAs
that impinge on cell membrane and/or reduce the required amount of
target biomolecules (fig. 1A,1B). In this study, we hypothesize that
serpentine device can be used to transfect target cells under continuous
perfusion.
To determine if hydrodynamic conditions required to induce and sustain
chaos in our flow cells, we observed and characterized flow dynamics
using computational fluid dynamic simulations. Computational fluid
dynamic simulations were used to determine the velocity magnitude and
direction of induced chaotic advection in our flow cell (fig.1C). In
fact, velocity in inner wall of microfluidic chip is higher than outer
wall that can enhances entrance of DNA to cell.