DNA Hydrogel Plugs Immobilized in Microfluidic Channels with Improved Stability

Published

February 28, 2002

Author(s)

Rebecca A. Zangmeister, K G. Olsen, David J. Ross, Michael J. Tarlov

Abstract

It has been previously demonstrated that DNA, modified on the 5' end with an acrylic acid group, can be incorporated into a polyacrylamide hydrogel matrix. These types of DNA containing gels have recently been immobilized in plastic microfluidic channels through a photoinduced polymerization reaction. The DNA oligomers retain activity, and are able to bind complementary target strands as they migrate through the gel plug under electrophoretic conditions. Although preliminarystudies have succeeded in the retention of DNA activity of immobilized probes, the lifetime of the polyacrylamide gel plugs rarely exceeded 30 min under continuous use.The goal of recent experiments has been to increase the stability of the polyacrylamide gel plugs by the introduction of polymerization attachment points to the polymeric microchannel surfaces prior to gel plug formation. UV/ozone treatment was used to increase the hydroxyl content on both top polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) and bottom polycarbonate (PC) surfaces. A methacrylate functionality, which can cross-link with the polyacrylamide gel, was introduced by reacting the hydroxyl terminated surfaces with Bind-Silane 3-Methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane). Chemically modified surfaces were then exposed to polyacrylamide hydrogel polymerization conditions. Contact angle measurements and FT-IR ATR spectra confirm the increase in polyacrylamide gel formation on PC and PMMA surfaces with the above described surface pretreatment. Subsequent timed performance measurements on DNA containing gel plugs show that surface pretreatment can increase the lifetime of the gel plugs by 2.5 times on average.The increase in gel plug stability allows for investigation into the percent activity, capture rate, and electrophoretic stringency of immobilized DNA within the polyacrylamide gel plugs.

Citation

DNA Hydrogel Plugs Immobilized in Microfluidic Channels with Improved Stability

Pub Type

Others

Keywords

DNA, DNA hydrogel plugs, DNA oligomers, polyacrylamide hydrogel matrix

Citation

Zangmeister, R. , Olsen, K. , Ross, D. and Tarlov, M. (2002), DNA Hydrogel Plugs Immobilized in Microfluidic Channels with Improved Stability, DNA Hydrogel Plugs Immobilized in Microfluidic Channels with Improved Stability (Accessed October 20, 2025)