Inside living organisms, concentration gradients dynamically change over time as biological processes progress. Therefore, methods to construct dynamic microscale concentration gradients in a spatially controlled manner are needed to provide more realistic research environments. Here, we report a novel method for the construction of dynamic microscale concentration gradients in a stepwise manner around cells in micropatterned hydrogel. In our method, cells are encapsulated in a photodegradable hydrogel formed inside a microfluidic perfusion culture device, and perfusion microchannels are then fabricated in the hydrogel by micropatterned photodegradation. The cells in the micropatterned hydrogel can then be cultured by perfusing culture medium through the fabricated microchannels. By using this method, we demonstrate the simultaneous construction of two dynamic concentration gradients, which allowed us to expose the cells encapsulated in the hydrogel to a dynamic microenvironment.

在生物体内，浓度梯度会随着生物过程的发展而动态变化。因此，需要以空间控制的方式构建动态微尺度浓度梯度的方法，以提供更现实的研究环境。在这里，我们报告了一种新的方法，用于在微模式水凝胶中围绕细胞逐步构建动态的微观浓度梯度。在我们的方法中，将细胞封装在微流灌注培养装置内部形成的可光降解水凝胶中，然后通过微图案化光降解在水凝胶中制造灌注微通道。然后可以通过将培养基灌注通过制造的微通道来培养微图案水凝胶中的细胞。通过使用这种方法，