Size-dependent separation of human mesenchymal stem cells by applying microfluidic chip filtration

Abstract

It is very important to separate the human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) with high multipotential to differentiation and to increase the efficacy of cell therapy. In this view, we have investigated to develop and validate a novel method for the collection of desired size of hMSCs by utilizing the microfluidic chip with main, side, and branch channels realizing the hydrodynamic filtration (HDF) principle. For the size-dependent cell separation, the PDMS-glass chip was designed to collect the smaller hMSCs at the foremost outlet of the branch channel. The separation performance was controlled by the number of branch channels and the ratio of the flow rate of a main inlet to that of a side inlet. Results of the size distribution of collected cells could be applied for sorting and isolating hMSCs. Further, microfluidic chip filtration has a key advantage capable of continuous operation without applying additional chemicals.