Un dispositif d'écoulement pour l'étude des réactions cellulaires au contact d'une paroi poreuse

Biomaterials used in biomedical devices, such as bioartificial organs, hemodialysers and vascular prosthesis, are porous and are exposed to normal and tangential flow of physiological fluid. Flow induced forces may influence the responses (morphology, migration, detachment) of cells adhering to a porous wall. In classical in-vitro flow devices, cells are submitted to only tangential stresses. We designed a new flow system in order to take into account the influence of a transmural pressure. It is a parallel-plate flow chamber with a porous bottom wall (biomaterial). We report an application of this system to study the effect of flow conditions on cells adhering to a dialysis membrane. The mechanically induced cell shape changes are correlated to biochemical analysis (activation of the cAMP pathway).