Single Cell Study in a Hydrogel

Abstract

A single cell study is performed in a microfluidic device employing the versatility of a newly developed technique of controlled cell entrapment in a calcium alginate hydrogel. A Jurkat cell captured in a way that half of its body is held in the gel, the other half exposed to flowing medium, shows an unexpected behaviour: it elongates and moves out of the gel into the medium. We speculate, that the directed migration is stimulated by shear stress exerted by the fluid flow, creating an effect in our device, that is similar to diapedesis.