A Highly UV-transparent Fused Silica Biochip for Sensitive Hepatotoxicity Testing by Autofluorescence

Fabrication and application of a non-fluorescent and UV-transparent microfluidic biochip in fused silica that allows sensitive autofluorescence detection are described. The biochip is particularly useful in cell-based assays where the most informative autofluorescence signals from the cells reside in the ultraviolet spectral range and where plastic labware materials commonly used in cell culture work severely disturb such measurements. In this study the fused silica biochip was used for measuring intrinsic autofluorescence from liver cells in order to assess hepatotoxic effects of drugs. The assessment assay was carried out with the human liver cell line HepG2 under perfusion conditions in the microfluidics of the biochip. The autofluorescence from the.liver cells exposed to quinidine was readily recorded without background disturbance and correlated well with reference toxicity data.