Glioblastoma on a microfluidic chip: Generating pseudopalisades and enhancing aggressiveness through blood vessel obstruction events.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Glioblastoma (GBM) is one of the most lethal tumor types. Hypercellular regions, named pseudopalisades, are characteristic in these tumors and have been hypothesized to be waves of migrating glioblastoma cells. These "waves" of cells are thought to be induced by oxygen and nutrient depletion caused by tumor-induced blood vessel occlusion. Although the universal presence of these structures in GBM tumors suggests that they may play an instrumental role in GBM's spread and invasion, the recreation of these structures in vitro has remained challenging.

Methods

Here we present a new microfluidic model of GBM that mimics the dynamics of pseudopalisade formation. To do this, we embedded U-251 MG cells within a collagen hydrogel in a custom-designed microfluidic device.

SUBMITTER: Ayuso JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5464359 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature