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Hypoxic environment is known as one of the critical factors in various physiological/pathological processes. It is imperative to recapitulate oxygen level in microscale for human physiology/pathology induced by hypoxia. Herein, we propose an oxygen-regulating system that can be applied to in vitro tissue models. We fabricated a microdevice with a gas-permeable membrane, allowing oxygen diffusion without direct contact to cells. We verified the formation of oxygen level less than 2% O₂ concentration inside the device through computational simulation and experiments. H9c2 heart myoblasts were exposed to hypoxic condition in the device, and their cell viability were investigated. We anticipate that our system will be integrated with a platform to study hypoxia-induced human physiology and pathology as an efficient oxygen-regulating system.

Hypoxic environment is known as one of the critical factors in various physiological/pathological processes. It is imperative to recapitulate oxygen level in microscale for human physiology/pathology induced by hypoxia. Herein, we propose an oxygen-regulating system that can be applied to in vitro tissue models. We fabricated a microdevice with a gas-permeable membrane, allowing oxygen diffusion without direct contact to cells. We verified the formation of oxygen level less than 2% O₂ concentration inside the device through computational simulation and experiments. H9c2 heart myoblasts were exposed to hypoxic condition in the device, and their cell viability were investigated. We anticipate that our system will be integrated with a platform to study hypoxia-induced human physiology and pathology as an efficient oxygen-regulating system.

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are chemically reactive oxygen-containing compounds generated by various factors in the body. Antioxidants mitigate the damaging effects of ROS by playing a critical role in regulating redox balance and signaling. In this study, the interplay between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidants in the context of lipid dynamics were investigated. The interaction between hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as an ROS and vitamin E (α-tocopherol) as an antioxidant was examined. Model membranes containing both saturated and unsaturated lipids served as experimental platforms to investigate the influence of H2O2 on phospholipid unsaturation and the role of antioxidants in this process. The results demonstrated that H2O2 has a negative effect on membrane stability and disrupts the lipid membrane structure, whereas the presence of antioxidants protects the lipid membrane from the detrimental effects of ROS. The model membranes used here are a useful tool for understanding ROS–antioxidant interactions at the molecular level in vitro. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface topography of substrates is a crucial factor that determines the interaction with biological materials in bioengineering research. Therefore, it is important to appropriately modify the surface topography according to the research purpose. Surface topography can be fabricated in various forms, such as wrinkles, creases, and ridges using surface deformation techniques, which can contribute to the performance enhancement of cell chips, organ chips, and biosensors. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the characteristics of soft, hard, and hybrid substrates used in the bioengineering field and the surface deformation techniques applied to the substrates. Furthermore, this review summarizes the cases of cell-based research and other applications, such as biosensor research, that utilize surface deformation techniques. In cell-based research, various studies have reported optimized cell behavior and differentiation through surface deformation, while, in the biosensor and biofilm fields, performance improvement cases due to surface deformation have been reported. Through these studies, we confirm the contribution of surface deformation techniques to the advancement of the bioengineering field. In the future, it is expected that the application of surface deformation techniques to the real-time interaction analysis between biological materials and dynamically deformable substrates will increase the utilization and importance of these techniques in various fields, including cell research and biosensors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]