A reliable in vitro model of human adipose tissue may aid in the analysis of adipocyte function and provide improved resources for the screening of new therapeutic compounds for Type 2 Diabetes and other metabolic diseases. Cell culture models on two-dimensional surfaces stop short of imitating the 3D human in vivo adipose environments, whereas 3D culture models are often unable to sustain long-term cell culture due, in part, due to lack of physiomimitic microenvironmental control. 

Microphysiological system (MPS) seems to be the most promising technology to accurately control the micro-environment of complex 3D biological models such as adipose tissue. A human psychomimetic models 3D vascularized model should integrate at least the 4 fundamental cell types of the adipose tissue: endothelial, macrophages, monocytes, and adipocytes.
This induces an additional level of complexity, in the control of the microenvironmental. Indeed, shear stress should be produce and maintain to sustain the endothelium differentiation, sufficient oxygen, and nutrient supply to maintain the culture over weeks, appropriate extracellular matrix stiffness, culture medium composition to maintain simultaneously 4 cellular types,…
Once achieved, MPS can mimic either a physiologic 3D vascularized adipose tissue (lipogenesis/lipolysis, adiponectin/leptin release, adipocytes maturation,…) or a physio-pathological condition. Indeed obesity mediated inflammation of the adipose tissue is one of the mechanisms leading to type 2 diabetes (free fatty acid release, macrophages activation, monocytes recruitment by endothelium,…).Hence, having an instrument able to maintain for the long term such a complex model in physiologic or pathological condition represents a much-needed tool in the drug development of type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other metabolic diseases therapies.  Additionally, MPS represents a promising alternative to animal models, going in the direction of the 3R guidelines in Europe.