Liquid marbles to culture adherent cells for high-throughput drug screening

Liquid marbles (LM) are small liquid drops covered with hydrophobic powder (HP) particles. The hydrophobic shell prevents any direct contact between the liquid and surfaces outside the LM. LM can thus be easily manipulated and transferred, being candidates to be used as micro-biorreactors for distinct cells studies. Some applications for LM are tumor spheroids and embryoid bodies formation. The objective here was to develop a strategy to culture anchorage-depend cells in a liquid compartmented environment. For this we used poly (L-lactic acid) microparticles (lPLLAs) to provide the anchorage points for cells inside of the LM. The developed system shows high potential for high-throughput drug screening applications, focused on adherent cells.