AUTHOR=Pang Long , Ding Jing , Liu Xi-Xian , Kou Zhixuan , Guo Lulu , Xu Xi , Fan Shih-Kang 

TITLE=Microfluidics-Based Single-Cell Research for Intercellular Interaction

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2021.680307

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2021.680307

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=Cell–cell communication is critical to numerous biology and medical studies, e.g., stem cell differentiation, immunotherapy and tissue engineering. Traditional methods employed for delving into cell-cell communication are limited by expensive equipment and sophisticated procedures. Microfluidics technique is considered as one of the powerful measures capable of precisely capturing and manipulating cells and achieving low reagent consumption and high throughput with decidedly integrated functional components. Over the past few years, microfluidics-based systems for cell–cell communication study at a single-cell level have become frequently adopted in biological and medical studies. This review covers microfluidics-based methods for cell–cell communication studies at a single-cell level. The challenges to be overcome in the future are highlighted.