CONFIGURATIONS OF A FLOW-INJECTION SYSTEM FOR PERFUSION STUDIES OF ADHERENT CELLS

This paper describes three configurations of a now injection apparatus designed to be the fluidic drive for perfusion studies of cultured ad herent cells. The apparatus was coupled to a now-through perfusion cha mber that was specifically designed for live cell perfusion using fluo rescence microscopy as the detector. The instrument consists of two li near syringe pumps and a multiposition selector valve which, under com puter control, allowed sequential injection, fluid switching, and now injection to be performed with minimal system reconfiguration. When th e apparatus is coupled to a dual inlet perfusion chamber, target cells can be exposed to very steep reagent pulses, while the traditional si ngle inlet perfusion chamber allows more flexibility and provides a mo re gradual increase in reagent concentration, The most significant sal ient feature of the system is the ability to generate very steep pulse s-a desirable feature for cell perfusion studies.