Microfluidic Formation of Cell-Laden Hydrogel Modules for Tissue Engineering

This chapter introduces the reproducible fabrication methods of cell-laden hydrogel modules with a controllable design and the characteristics of the modules. It provides an overview of handling techniques of the modules in microfluidic devices. The chapter talks about applications of the modules for transplantation and bottom-up tissue engineering. Combined with cell assay microfluidic systems and cell-laden hydrogel modules, microtissues with extracellular matrices (ECMs) are useful for analyses of cell functions and cell-cell interactions because microtissues can easily be handled, arrayed, and retrieved in microfluidic systems. Furthermore, the cell-laden hydrogel modules can be used as building units for reconstructing 3D cell structures. Therefore, the cell-laden hydrogel modules produced by microfluidic devices have a great potential to create miniaturized tissues for human implantation and for treatment of diseases.