Transcending the Transwell
At Flocel Inc., our mission is to provide innovative, high-quality products and services for dynamic, in vitro, 3D cell barrier culture.
With integrity and transparency, we want to convey the advantages of our DIV-BBB 3.0 system compared to other approaches, such as the Transwell apparatus. The exposure to intraluminal flow is essential to promote endothelial cell differentiation and increase BBB tightness. In contrast to the Transwell apparatus, endothelial cells grown under dynamic conditions develop in a monolayer fashion, thus mimicking the structural physiology of capillaries in vivo.
A comparative study showed that the development of cell barriers cultured in an environment of static flow (i.e., Transwell) and an environment with dynamic flow (i.e., DIV-BBB) differed greatly. The trans-endothelial electrical resistance (TEER) values were 10-fold higher across the DIV-BBB culture (B) than in the Transwell culture (A). Moreover, the values detected in the DIV-BBB culture were much closer to the ones observed in vivo because dynamic flow exerts shear stress on the apical surface of the cells and influences cell development and function.
The DIV-BBB recapitulates the drug permeability properties of the in vivo brain. Note the virtually identical profile of phenytoin movement across the DIV-BBB and the rat brain BBB.
Cell barriers cultured under dynamic flow conditions, such as in the DIV-BBB, are stronger, more physiologically accurate, and regulate selective permeability more tightly than cell barriers cultured under static flow conditions. The permeability of Transwell (D) for the epileptic drug phenytoin was markedly higher than that of DIV-BBB (C) and 4-fold higher than the in vivo permeability of 0.0001 cm/s. The stronger and more physiologically accurate cell barriers cultured under the dynamic fluid conditions of the DIV-BBB allow to test drug permeability and pharmacokinetics more accurately.
What if I already own Transwell products?
If you would prefer to continue using your Transwell products (such as Endohm-6, Endohm-12, Endohm-24SNAP cell culture chambers, or any "chopstick" electrodes), we also offer a TEER Measurement Unit that is both compatible with these Endohm products and much more versatile! Not only does our TEER Measurement Unit allow for frequency sweeps between 0.1 Hz and 1,000 Hz (0.1 Hz sampling resolution), but it can be directed by the user to automatically sample single-frequency and frequency sweep data for an indefinite period of time and to save these data into a .xls or .csv file.
No more pushing a button and jotting down the TEER value every time you want to take a measurement!
To learn more about our products
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