A palmtop‐sized microfluidic cell culture system driven by a miniaturized infusion pump

A palmtop‐sized microfluidic cell culture system is presented. The system consists of a microfluidic device and a miniaturized infusion pump that possesses a reservoir of culture medium, an electrical control circuit, and an internal battery. The footprint of the system was downsized to 87 × 57 mm, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the smallest integrated cell culture system. Immortalized human microvascular endothelial cells ( HMEC ‐1) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells ( HUVEC ) were cultured in the system. HMEC ‐1 in the system proliferated at the same speed as cells in a microchannel perfused by a syringe pump and cells in a culture flask. HUVEC in the system oriented along the direction of the fluid flow. Claudin‐5, a tight junction protein, was localized along the peripheries of the HUVEC . We expect that the present system is applicable to various cell types as a stand‐alone and easy‐to‐use system for microfluidic bioanalysis.