Ibidi pump system

Introduction

The ibidi Pump System (GmbH, Martinsried, Germany) is specialized in cell cultivation for simulation of blood vessels, and is ideal to simulate various physiological conditions for long term cell culture. It can provide continuous unidirectional, oscillating or pulsatile flow. The ibidi Pump System consists of a computer-controlled air pressure pump and up to four portable Fluidic Units with two media reservoirs each. Shear stress, shear rate and flow rate can be controlled via the ibidi software that regulates the air pressure.

Conveniently exact flow rates and shear stress rates have been pre-calculated for all ibidi µ-Slides for flow applications.

The ibidi Pump is a closed system with media circulating between the two reservoirs of the Fluidic Units without changing the directing of the flow due to switching valves. It allows applying a wide range of flow rates, from 30 µL/min to 35 mL/min. Thanks to its air pressure driven flow, the ibidi Pump System is able to obtain very low levels of shear stress applied on the cells, down to 0.3 dyn/cm². The working volume is between 2.5 and 50 mL.

This system allows running experiments under microscope, and the Fluidic Units can be kept inside the incubator for long term experiments.