Going with the flow: Assessing the impact of a milli-fluidic flow-through system and probiotic bacteria on intestinal cell lines

Murphy, Kyle 2021. Going with the flow: Assessing the impact of a milli-fluidic flow-through system and probiotic bacteria on intestinal cell lines. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

When attempting to model the human gut, cell culture research has traditionally employed a reductionist approach to encapsulate the nuanced behaviours of these cells in situ. However, as these studies almost exclusively employ static cell culture methodologies, the biological relevance of such research could be disputed, as many of the complex factors that influence the gut’s behaviour and responsiveness to external stimuli are omitted. From host-microbial interactions to dynamic flow, such factors are omnipresent within the gut and, in the case of the host microbiome, have been historically proven to induce considerable behavioural changes. This thesis aims to examine the impact of both dynamic flow – which is regularly absent from cell culture studies – and bacteria, specifically probiotics, on four intestinal cell lines used commonly within cell culture studies. By introducing a dynamic flow element to cell culture via the Kirkstall Quasi Vivo® QV500 milli-fluidic flow-through system, it was hypothesised that an alteration in cellular behaviour would be observed, although whether such changes would pose a positive or negative influence remained unknown. Following verification of any observed behavioural changes, bacteria – both probiotic and pathogenic – were introduced to the QV500 to enable co-exposure of flow and bacteria to cell lines. Ultimately, this study has concluded that the presence of dynamic flow and the co-culturing of cell lines with both flow and bacteria is beneficial for improving current gut methodologies. While this study has provided a preliminary insight into the importance of flow in modelling the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines from human cells to bacterial stimuli, further research is required to optimise flow systems for application in wider studies and to overcome the limitations of systems such as the QV500, as this study has proposed that flow may be invaluable in furthering the current understanding surrounding the gut and its essential factors

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Biosciences
Subjects:	Q Science > Q Science (General)
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	7 February 2022
Last Modified:	27 Sep 2022 01:14
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/147295

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