Abstract: In order to supply a method and a device that can evaluate the fluidity of blood with good sensitivity in a simple manner, there is provided a blood fluidity evaluation method in which a pressure member is pressed against a test site upon a test subject, blood at the test site is squeezed to flow out to the periphery of the test site, change over time of the amount of blood at the test site is measured at this time using optical scattering, and blood fluidity at the test site is evaluated from this measurement data; and, desirably, before the above method, a positioning process is performed in which: the pressure member is pressed against the test site with a weak force; pulse measurement data is acquired due to the absorption of light; and a relative position, at which the intensity of the pulse measurement data attains a local maximum, is determined as being an optimum measurement position.

Abstract: A culture medium is disclosed for inducing the differentiation of visceral preadipocytes into mature visceral adipocytes; the culture medium contains 0.85 to 100 ng/mL insulin and 50 to 250 ng/mL IGF-1. Also disclosed is a method for using the culture medium to induce the differentiation of visceral preadipocytes into mature visceral adipocytes. Use of the differentiation induction system of the present invention enables a substantial induction of adipocyte differentiation without the addition of synthetic differentiation inducers or high insulin concentrations. The mature adipocytes obtained by the differentiation induction system of the present invention are useful for research into the biochemistry and physiology of adipocytes, for screening drugs effective for the treatment of lifestyle-related diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, and for developing diagnostic reagents.

Abstract: The invention provides a method of inducing differentiation of a visceral preadipocyte and a method of culturing a visceral adipocyte comprising culturing the cell in a medium containing serum free of heparin-adsorbable components. The invention also provides for the removal of heparin-adsorbable components by, for example, applying serum to a heparin affinity column thereby adsorbing the heparin-adsorbable component to heparin. A visceral adipocyte cultured by the method of the present invention is useful in a study of differentiation, growth and metabolism of an adipocyte, elucidation of the mechanism of development and progress of diseases such as diabetes, hyperlipemia, hypertension and arteriosclerosis, and development of a drug for preventing and treating such a disease.