PDMS Membranes Drilled by Proton Microbeam Writing: A Customizable Platform for the Investigation of Endothelial Cell-Substrate Interactions in Transwell-like Devices.

ABSTRACT: Cell migration assays provide valuable insights into pathological conditions, such as tumor metastasis and immune cell infiltration, and the regenerative capacity of tissues. In vitro tools commonly used for cell migration studies exploit commercial transwell systems, whose functionalities can be improved through engineering of the pore pattern. In this context, we propose the fabrication of a transwell-like device pursued by combining the proton beam writing (PBW) technique with wet etching onto thin layers of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). The resulting transwell-like device incorporates a PDMS membrane with finely controllable pore patterning that was used to study the arrangement and migration behavior of HCMEC/D3 cells, a well-established human brain microvascular endothelial cell model

SUBMITTER: Guarino V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12387213 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature