Abstract

Hydrogel structures equipped with internal microchannels offer more in vivo-relevant models for construction of tissues and organs in vitro. However, currently used microfabrication methods of constructing microfluidic devices are not suitable for the handling of hydrogel. This study presents a novel method of fabricating hydrogel-based microfluidic chips by combining the casting and bonding processes. A twice cross-linking strategy is designed to obtain a bonding interface that has the same strength with the hydrogel bulk, which can be applied to arbitrary combinations of hydrogels. It is convenient to achieve the construction of hydrogel structures with channels in branched, spiral, serpentine, and multilayer forms. The experimental results show that the combination of gelatin and gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) owns the best biocompatibility and can promote cell functionalization. Based on these, a vessel-on-a-chip system with vascular function in both physiological and pathological situations is established, providing a promising model for further investigations such as vascularization, vascular inflammation, tissue engineering, and drug development. Taken together, a facile and cytocompatible approach is developed for engineering a user-defined hydrogel-based chip that can be potentially useful in developing vascularized tissue or organ models.