Investigation of Dendrimer-based nanoparticles cellular uptake and cell tracking in a semi-automated microfluidic platform

Dendrimers can act as drug delivery systems for controlling cellular fate from inside cells by being engineered for its chemistry, bioavailability and biocompatibility(1). Indeed, other polymeric nanoparticles have already been reported and studied as carriers for drugs, genes and image contrast agents, therefore finding many possibilities in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (1). In this study, synthesis and physicochemical characterization of Carboxymethylchitosan/poly(amidoamine) dendrimer nanoparticles (CMCht/PAMAM NP’s) were performed. Also, the internalization efficiency was tested with L929 cells as well as cellular trafficking, achieved by grafting fluorescent label probe Fluorescein-5(6)-isothiocyanate (FITC), in static and dynamic conditions (Kima Pump bioreactor). A microfluidic device such as Kima Pump and Vena8 biochip  is able to realize functions that are not easily imaginable in conventional biological analysis, such as highly parallel, sophisticated high-throughput analysis, single-cell analysis in a well-defined manner, and tissue engineering with the capability of manipulation at the single-cell level.