A microfluidic chip was designed to assess the toxicity of pollutants in a high-throughput way by using
marine phytoplankton motility as a sensor signal. In this chip, multiple gradient generators (CGGs) with
diffusible chambers enable large scale of dose-response bioassays to be performed in a simple way. Two
mobile marine phytoplankton cells were confined on-chip and stimulated by 8 concentrations (generated
by CGG) of Hg, Pb, Cu and phenol singly, as well as Cu and phenol jointly. CASA system was used to
characterize motility by motile percentage (%MOT), curvilinear velocity (VCL), average path velocity
(VAP) and straight line velocity (VSL). In all cases, dose-dependent inhibitions of motility were observed.
In the present system, only 2 h was needed to predict EC50. Thus, the developed microfluidic chip device
was proved to be useful as a rapid/simple and high-throughput test method in marine pollution toxicity
assessment.