Figure 2
Experimental observations of the autonomous entrapment/localization of DNA and living cells. (a) Red blood cells (RBC) inside droplets, (b) epithelial cells (NMuMG) located at the interface, and (c) salmon sperm DNA inside the glass capillary. For comparison, the lower panel of (a) shows w/w droplets between planar glass plates with a depth of ca. 100 μm. The solution compositions were the same as in Fig. 1. Dashed lines indicate the inner glass wall. (a) Red blood cells (RBC) stained by Nile Red were distributed at both the interface and inside DEX-rich droplets. Upper panel: Using a glass capillary, uniform-sized droplets were arranged in a row. Lower panel: Various-sized droplets were formed. (b) and (c) Generation of droplets inside a glass capillary with NMuMG cells and DNA, respectively. Mouse mammary gland epithelial cells (NMuMG cells) tended to distribute at the interface of DEX-rich droplets. The NMuMG cells were fluorescence-labeled by the expression of mCherry as a fluorescent protein. Salmon sperm DNA (150 µM, 500–1000 kbp) accumulated inside the droplets of the DEX phase. DNA was labeled with a fluorescent dye (YOYO-1).
