Microfluidic three-dimensional osteocyte network reconstructed with microbeads as scaffold

A method of culturing osteocytes in a microfluidic chamber, comprising the steps of:

• mixing a plurality of cells with a plurality of microbeads, thereby forming a mixture including cells and microbeads, the cells including one or both of a plurality of osteocytes and a plurality of pre-osteocytes;
• adding a portion of the mixture to a microfluidic chamber, thereby forming a bed of microbeads with cells distributed among the microbeads;
• allowing the cells of the bed to attach to the microbeads of the bed;
• and
• perfusing the bed with a culture medium, whereby osteocytes of the bed remain as osteocytes and pre-osteocytes of the bed develop into osteocytes.