Hello!

I'm currently conducting research on the effects of probiotic metabolites on salt tolerance, but I would like to extend my research further. More specifically, I want to test how these metabolites can maybe have a positive effect on different health conditions such as stroke, cardiovascluar disease, etc. I work at a university metabolic engineering and analysis lab. Is there any way I could induce conditions similar to those of these diseases in vitro? For example, I would love to induce stroke-like conditions on agar if at all possible.

Thank you so much!

That would not work. Stroke is not a cellular condition, but a vascular disease (though often associated with neurological manifestations, which would make things even more complicate. So at the minimum you would need a vascular model or, more likely, an animal model. Also, stroke is not induced by a specific stressor, but basically is induced by damages/blockages in the vascular system and could be e.g. caused by thromboses or similar events.

Also, agar plates are generally used for microbial studies and you cannot grow eukaryotic cells on them.