Multiscale fabrication of a transparent circulation type blood vessel simulator

We proposed and fabricated multiscale transparent arteriole and capillary vessel models with circular cross sections of 10-500 mu m using photolithography. The circularities of the fabricated 10, 50, and 500 mu m diameter microchannels were 84.0%, 61.5%, and 82.3%, respectively. Next, we connected these different models to realize a circulation type blood vessel model simulating arteriole networks. We proposed a novel connection method using an intermediate connector made of wax, which we used to connect these models to make a circulation model. In flow experiments, the fabricated models showed no leakage and circulation models with seamless connections were achieved. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3523471]