Microfluidic 3D Hepatic Cultures Integrated with Droplet-Based Bioanalysis Unit for Monitoring Glucose Metabolism Upon Hormonal Stimulation

We report a microfluidic device that integrates an organoid culture chamber with a bioanalytical unit in which conditioned media from the 140 organoids can be discreetly aliquoted into picoliter droplets for on-chip analysis. This automated microfluidic device enables hormonal stimulation and high temporal resolution of analyte measurements upon cell stimulation without disturbing local concentration gradients in the culture chamber. Glucose consumption of hepatic spheroids upon hormonal stimulation (insulin) was assessed using in-droplet enzymatic colorimetric glucose assay.