Microchannels for microfluidic systems

Abstract

Microfluidic systems (which are also known as microchannel devices) are an important and versatile practical apparatus applicable in different areas of science and technology. The appropriate design of microfluidic system demands the accurate calculation of the parameters of the microfluidic device. The channels used in microfluidic systems are critical compartments of the device, which affect the efficiency of the system. The purpose of this chapter is to survey the microchannels and their characteristics in microfluidic systems. After a detailed discussion of microchannels, their applications for non-living phantoms for cardiovascular, neuroscience and respiratory studies will be discussed. In the biomedical applications of microchannels the areas such as cell studies e.g. cytoskeleton behavior, cell-to-cell interaction detecting of cell derived moieties are important. Also cellular level tissue engineering, such as cell vaso-occlusion in tissue biomimicking is described.