Swirl-Based Non-Contact Method of Cell Orientation Control

Abstract

Orientation adjustment is an important issue in the micromanipulation of cells. A non-contact method based on a swirl for cell orientation control was introduced in this paper. The swirl is produced by a pair of opposite micro-fluids squirting from two parallel tubes. Cell orientation adjustment is realized by cells rotation due to swirl viscous drag, which drives cells to desired configurations. The appropriate distances between the end face of the two tubes and the distance between the axes of them are 1-3 times tube diameter for the cells rotating in the swirl central zone. Especially when the distances are kept double the cell diameter, cells rotate steadily round the swirl central point. By pulsating jetting, fluctuant micro-fluid are generated which make cell rotating a certain angle. Adjusting the pulse duration, pressure and jetting velocity, the cell rotation angle can be controlled which make orientation control more precisely. The method is valid for cells of different shapes and sizes. The effectiveness of the proposed non-contact method for cell configuration control was verified by experiments.