Adipocytes have gained significant attention re-
cently, because they are not only functioning as energy storage
but also as endocrine cells. Adipocytes secret various signal-
ing molecules, including adiponectin, MCP-1, and IL-6,
termed collectively as Badipokines^. Adipokines regulate glu-
cose metabolism, thereby play an important role in obesity,
d i a b e t e s t y p e 2 , an d o t h er m e t a b o l i c d i s o r d e r s .
Conventionally, to study the secretory function, adipocytes
are cultured in vitro in static conditions. However, static cul-
turing condition falls short of mimicking the interstitial fluid
flows in living systems. Here, we developed a perfusion de-
vice which allows dynamic culture of adipocytes under con-
stant and mild flow using a double-layered fluidic structure.
Adipocytes were cultured in the bottom layer while the culture
media were constantly flown in the upper layer and perfused
through a porous membrane that separate the two chambers.
The porous membrane between the two chambers physically
separates the cells from the flow stream while maintain a flu-
idic connection by diffusion. This setting not only provides
continuous nutrient supply to adipocytes but also maintains a
steady and mild shear stress on the cell membrane. It was
found the perfusion-based culture conditions promoted faster
growth of primary preadipocytes and stimulated greater adi-
pogenesis compared to static culture condition. Adipocytes

• Human adipocyte differentiation and characterization in a perfusion-based cell culture device