(334d) Microfluidic Cell Culture Device to Study the Effect of Spatial Confinement On Adipocyte Cell Death Rates

Being obese greatly increases one's risk of being afflicted by chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke. These adverse metabolic states are believed to arise due to the secretion of various inflammatory factors originating from adipose (fat) tissue. Recent studies have indicated that with obesity, adipose cells expand so rapidly that the extracellular matrix surrounding them cannot expand at the same rate. This physical confinement results in increased cell death and macrophage infiltration. These events lead to a chronic state of inflammation in adipose tissue which spills over systemically to other tissues leading to the adverse metabolic conditions mentioned above.

With standard cell culture petridishes, it is not been possible to systematically investigate the effect of physical confinement on adipocyte death, and in vivo models have a large number of parameters that cannot be independently controlled. We present here the a ?microfluidic? cell culture ?vessel? embedded in a 3? x 1? cassette that consists of two types of pores: larger pores (50-200 microns) into which adipocytes are packed, and smaller pores (2-5 microns) that act like a vascular bed through which nutrients can be provided. Controlling the size of the larger pores provides us with a way to confine adipocyte growth to varying (but known) degrees. This system enables us to study the effect of spatial confinement in isolation from other Biomolecular factors on the death rate of adipose cells from various sources (subcutaneous, intra-abdominal etc.)