| Abstract: | Intestinal flora play an important role in human's immune system. Many bacteria adhere to the wall of the testinal wall. These Intestinal flora help digestion, and also stop their disease-causing counterparts from invading. Most of the current researches focused on the interaction between cells and the construction of organs, but few researches studied on the role of microorganisms and cells. Here, we developed an in vitro living cell systems to simulate the structure, absorption, transport and pathophysiological characteristics of the human intestinal tract and the key microbial symbiosis. The co-culture of Clostridium butyricum(C.butyricum) and colon cancer cells showed a different immune effect. C. butyricum could inhibit the proliferation of HCT116 cells, cause cell cycle arrest and promote apoptosis. But it had no significant effect on Caco-2 cells. Thus, basic functional characteristics of the gut were successfully simulated in a controlled microfluidic system. This approach is suggested as a powerful method in the investigation on drug metabolism and intestinal diseases. |
