SKOV-3 Cell Aggregates on a Microfluidic Chip with a Thermoresponsive Hydrogel as a Culture Scaffold for DOX Assessment

Microfluidic chip technology is very popular in life sciences. Here, ovarian cancer SKOV-3 cell aggregates were formed using thermoresponsive poly(<i>N</i>-isopropylacrylamide-<i>co</i>-acrylic acid) (PNA) hydrogel as a culture scaffold on a microfluidic chip serving as an operating platform. A simple microfluidic chip was designed and fabricated as the three-dimensional (3D) cell culture microplatform. Different concentrations of doxorubicin (DOX) were fed to the obtained SKOV-3 cell aggregates on the chip via a pump. All characterization results indicated that this system could effectively perform 3D cell culture and drug evaluation to a certain extent. In addition, by grafting the RGD sequence, the biocompatibility of the PNA hydrogel was improved. On the one hand, the grafting of the RGD sequence into the hydrogel could significantly improve cell proliferation in this system; on the other hand, it led to an earlier appearance of DOX drug resistance. This versatile model in this study has the potential for further use in in vitro human ovarian cancer physiological models, drug discovery, and toxicology research.