Abstract
Cells can be readily grown outside of the body on the bottom of specialised plastic tissue culture dishes containing a nutrient liquid. The use of culture dishes with an oxygen-permeable base allows oxygen to reach the cells from below. In particular experiments, an impermeable glass slip covered with tumour cells is placed in the centre of a permeable culture dish and endothelial cells are seeded on the base of the dish around the outside of the cover slip. Our aim is to determine whether the tumour cells at the centre become hypoxic.
We build and solve mathematical models for the transport of oxygen in this cell culture apparatus. Given the physical parameters, we determine that the original set is likely to be sub-optimal. We propose revised geometries of the apparatus that result in better concentration gradients.
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