Culture and leukocyte adhesion assay of human arterial endothelial cells in a glass microchip

Cells are frequently exploited as processing components for integrated chemical systems, such as biochemical reactors and bioassay systems. By culturing vascular endothelial cells (ECs) in integrated chemical devices, vascular models have also been fabricated. Here, we utilized a thermally fused-glass microchip which is chemically and physically stable and favorable for optical detections, and cultured human arterial ECs (HAECs) in it. HAECs reached confluence within 4 days. Survival and tolerance for high shear stress (25 dyn/cm(2)) of the HAECs were confirmed. Furthermore, HAECs responded to inflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis facor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and attached to more leukocyte cell line, HL-60 cells than unstimulated HAECs. Our developed device can be applied as a human arterial model, and we propose it as a new method for vascular studies.