Substrate Curvature Can Induce Morphological Changes and Functional Enhancements of Renal Tubule Cells

Abstract

We report that substrate curvature regulate morphology of the renal proximal tubule cells and this configuration can induce cell-to-cell junctional network formation which may lead the functional enhancement of proximal tubule cells. To test the morphological and functional effect of substrate curvature, we developed a microfluidic chip with wide range of diameters by easy and fast fabrication method. Our study suggest that curvature can induce morphological changes of renal proximal tubule cells such as aligned cell body orientation, elongation and also propose that the morphological changes in curvature contribute the junction network formation.