Fabrication of 3D porous micro-channel for artificial capillary blood vessel model

We present the fabrication of 3D porous micro-channel for artificial capillary blood vessel model to study the pressure of glomerulus in vitro. The 3D porous micro-channel was fabricated by direct laser writing to mimic the complex structure of capillary blood vessel. It was designed to connect with micro-channels which were fabricated by UV lithography process. The 3D porous micro-channel was made of IP-L to represent the glomerulus structures via direct laser writing. The fabricated structure was observed by optical and electron microscope to reveal the fabrication errors due to shrinkage. Optimization of the direct laser writing method shows that IP-L is a better photoresist compare to Ormocomp for 3D porous micro-channel by solid model fabrication. The PDMS micro-channel has also been fabricated and assembled on the glass with the IP-L porous micro-channel. There was no leakage when fluid flow experiment was performed due to surface tension.