Microtissues with specific structures and integrated vessels play a key role in maintaining organ functions. To recapitulate the in vivo environment for tissue engineering and organ-on-a-chip purposes, it is essential to develop perfusable biomimetic microscaffolds. We developed facile all-aqueous microfluidic approaches for producing perfusable hydrogel microtubes with diverse biomimetic sizes and shapes. Here, we provide a detailed protocol describing the construction of the microtube spinning platforms, the assembly of microfluidic devices, and the fabrication and characterization of various perfusable hydrogel microtubes. The hydrogel microtubes can be continuously generated from microfluidic devices due to the crosslinking of alginate by calcium in the coaxial flows and collecting bath. Owing to the mild all-aqueous spinning process, cells can be loaded into the alginate prepolymer for microtube spinning, which enables the direct production of cell-laden hydrogel microtubes. By manipulating the fluid dynamics at the microscale, the composable microfluidic devices and platforms can be used for the facile generation of six types of biomimetic perfusable microtubes. The microfluidic platforms and devices can be set up within 3 h from commonly available and inexpensive materials. After 10–20 min required to adjust the platform and fluids, perfusable hydrogel microtubes can be generated continuously. We describe how to characterize the microtubes using scanning electron or confocal microscopy. As an example application, we describe how the microtubes can be used for the preparation of a vascular lumen and how to perform barrier permeability tests of the vascular lumen.

具有特定结构和整合血管的微组织在维持器官功能中起关键作用。为了概括用于组织工程和芯片上器官目的的体内环境，开发可灌装的仿生微支架是必不可少的。我们开发了简便的全水微流控方法来生产具有不同仿生尺寸和形状的可灌装水凝胶微管。在这里，我们提供了详细的协议，描述了微管纺丝平台的结构，微流控设备的组装以及各种可灌注水凝胶微管的制造和表征。由于藻酸盐通过同轴流中的钙和收集槽中的钙交联，所以可以由微流体装置连续产生水凝胶微管。由于采用了温和的全水纺丝工艺，可以将细胞装载到藻酸盐预聚物中以进行微管旋转，从而可以直接生产载有细胞的水凝胶微管。通过在微观尺度上操纵流体动力学，可组合的微流体装置和平台可用于简便地产生六种类型的仿生可灌注微管。微流体平台和设备可以在3小时内从常用和廉价的材料中建立。在调整平台和流体所需的10–20分钟后，可连续生成可灌输的水凝胶微管。我们描述了如何使用扫描电子或共聚焦显微镜表征微管。作为一个示例应用程序，我们描述了如何将微管用于血管腔的制备以及如何进行血管腔的屏障通透性测试。