Circumferential alignment of vascular smooth muscle cells in a circular microfluidic channel
Abstract(#br)The circumferential alignment of human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) in an orthogonally micropatterned circular microfluidic channel is reported to form an in vivo -like smooth muscle cell layer. To construct a biomimetic smooth muscle cell layer which is aligned perpendicular to the axis of blood vessel, a half-circular polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannel is first fabricated by soft lithography using a convex PDMS mold. Then, the orthogonally microwrinkle patterns are generated inside the half-circular microchannel by a strain responsive wrinkling method.