Fulfillment of a bioartificial proximal tubule on-a-chip embedding ARPCs.

<p>(A) Scheme of the glomerulus and the proximal tubule structure in a human kidney nephron. Here tubular ARPCs were seeded into the device, whose cross section illustrates a confluent layer of ARPCs within the lumen microchannel and adherent to the membrane. After 4 days of culture, the lumen microchannel was perfused with the complete culture medium containing urea (UR) and creatinine (CR) and the medium without UR and CR was injected in counter-current into the lower, interstitial microchannel. (B–G) Characterization of isolated tubular ARPCs. Cytofluorimetric analysis shows the expression of CD133 (B), CD24 (C), CD44 (D). Immunofluorescence detection evidences the expression of Oct-4 (E), PAX-2 (F), BMI-1 (G). Scale bars = 50 µm. (H–I) Confluent growth of ARPCs in the device attested by immunostaining of cells with DAPI (blue) (H) and TRITC-phalloidin (red) (I). Scale bars = 100 µm.