Investigating neuroprotective effects of primary glial cells using overflow microfluidic networks

Abstract

The complex intercellular processes within neuroinflammatory events, taking place during brain diseases, are still insufficiently understood. Intercellular pathways between isolated populations of different brain cells need to be studied to unravel the complexity of such events. Here we show how overflow microfluidic networks (oMFNs) can be employed to study the neuroprotective potential of primary astrocytes under the conditions of an ischemic stroke. Astrocytes and neurons were cultivated in two individual chambers of an oMFN and stressed using an oxygen glucose deprivation chamber (OGD). Up to 45% of the neurons died under these conditions. In contrast, neuronal death was significantly reduced to ∼5% when the neurons received fluid from the chamber with the astrocytes culture.