Gravity-oriented microfluidic device for cell spheroid formation

In this study, we propose a simple method to form cell spheroids in a single-layered microfluidic device by employing gravity force. Simple device fabrication and straightforward loading of cells with manual pipetting facilitate the formation of 3D spheroids. To demonstrate the simple and effective method, two cell lines of MCF-7 cell (human breast adenocarcinoma cell line) and P-19 EC cell (embryonal carcinoma cell line) were applied to form 3D cell spheroids with the proposed gravity-oriented PDMS microfluidic device. With the model cell lines, uniform and well-conditioned cell spheroids were formed. Thus, we expect the proposed method will give valuable chances to study 3D cell culture models.