JSR photolithography based microvessel scaffold fabrication and cell seeding

A simple and inexpensive lithograph approach, in which the PMMA polymer was selected to be the substrate, the negative photoresist JSR was employed to form the microchannel structure, was adopted to fabricate the microvessel scaffold. In addition, a soft PDMS based microvessel scaffold was built by using a mold that was made up of the negative photoresist JSR. With O₂ plasma treatment, the PDMS based microvessel scaffold became more hydrophilic such that the cell culture could be easier to conduct. During cell culture, it was found that the fabricated scaffold enabled the bovine endothelial cells (BEC) to statically grow. However, the overall exchange of nutrient and oxygen was inefficient. Dynamic seeding by a novel apparatus was further conducted to have better circulation of culture medium. The bovine endothelial cells could successfully be cultivated in the microvessel scaffold by dynamic seeding.