Compartmentalized microfluidic lung epithelial cell culture device for pulmonary mechanotransduction studies

Pulmonary epithelial cells are exposed to various fluid flows during breathing or mechanical ventilation. Mechanical stresses generated by the movement of fluids affect function and phenotype of lung cells, and sometimes mediate the development of pulmonary diseases. This paper describes a compartmentalized microfluidic lung epithelial cell culture device that mimics in vivo microenvironment with different flows under normal and pathological pulmonary conditions.