Light-addressable electrodeposition of cell-encapsulated alginate hydrogels for a cellular microarray using a digital micromirror device

Abstract

This paper describes a light-addressable electrolytic system used to perform an electrodeposition of calcium alginate hydrogels using a digital micromirror device (DMD). In this system, a patterned light illumination is projected onto a photoconductive substrate serving as a photo-anode to electrolytically produce protons, which can lead to a decreased pH gradient. The low pH generated at the anode can locally release calcium ions from insoluble calcium carbonate (CaCO3) to cause gelation of calcium alginate through sol-gel transition. By controlling the illumination pattern on the DMD, a light-addressable electrodeposition of calcium alginate hydrogels with different shapes and sizes, as well as multiplexed micropatterning was performed. The effects of the concentration of the alginate and CaCO3 solutions on the dimensional resolution of alginate hydrogel formation were experimentally examined. A 3 × 3 array of cell-encapsulated alginate hydrogels was also successfully demonstrated through light-addressable electrodeposition. Our proposed method provides a programmable method for the spatiotemporally controllable assembly of cell populations into cellular microarrays and could have a wide range of biological applications in cell-based biosensing, toxicology, and drug discovery. © 2011 American Institute of Physics.