A Microchip For Studying the Effects of Dopamine and its Precursor On Neurospheroids

This paper reports a MEMS chip for studying the effects of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) and its precursor L-DOPA on adult rat hippocampal progenitor cell (AHPC) neurospheroids for the first time. This chip allows DA or L-DOPA in one chamber to diffuse to AHPC neurospheroids, a promising in vitro brain model, cultured in an adjacent chamber through an integrated diffusion barrier, used to mimic the blood-brain barrier (BBB) by an array of intentionally misaligned micropillars. After cell fixation and immunostaining were conducted, the fluorescence images of AHPC neurospheroids were analyzed. AHPC neurospheroids cultured in these devices remained highly viable following DA or L-DOPA treatment. Cell proliferation and neuronal differentiation have also been shown following DA or L-DOPA treatment, indicating the AHPC neurospheroids as a valuable in vitro brain model for neurogenesis research.