Online Measurement of Glucose Consumption from HepG2 Cells Using an Integrated Bioreactor and Enzymatic Assay

In this work, we developed a microfluidic bioreactor for optimizing growth and maintaining structure and function of HepG2, and when desired, the device could be removed and the extracellular output from the bioreactor combined with enzymatic glucose reagents into a droplet-based microfluidic system. The intensity of the resulting fluorescent assay product in the droplets was measured, and was directly correlated to glucose concentration, allowing the effect of insulin on glucose consumption in the HepG2 cells to be observed and quantified online and in near real-time.