BACKGROUND: Obesity is a growing global problem and an efficient screening method to discover anti-obesity agents on a simple platform is needed. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based micro-cell chips are widely applied to cell studies because of their non-toxicity and biocompatibility. RESULTS: 3T3-L1 cells were cultured on a micro-cell pattern chip. After 6 days, we successfully observed adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells within the micro-cell pattern chip. Next, 3T3-L1 cells on the micro-cell patterned chip were then treated under various concentrations of glycitein and 7,3',4'-trihydrxyisoflavone (0.2, 0.5 and 1.0.. mol L-1) for 10 days. Glycitein and 7,3', 4'-trihydrxyisoflavone exhibited a fat inhibitory capacity of higher than 36% and 44% at 1.0 mu mol L-1 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, suggesting anti-obesity activity. It was demonstrated that this platform can be used for real-time monitoring of cell growth and differentiation in live cell-based lipid droplets inhibition activity. CONCLUSION: A micro-cell pattern chip was made using PDMS microstamps through micro-molding for an efficient, rapid, and reliable cell selective patterning of 3T3-L1 cells differentiation. The present work provides a proof-of-principle demonstration of the direct qualitative and quantitative analysis of adipocyte differentiation through a simple microscopic observation of Oil Red O staining for lipid droplets in cell array patterning. PDMS based micro-cell pattern chips can be used for the screening of anti-obesity agents such as glycitein and 7,3', 4'-trihydrxyisoflavone. Furthermore, it is expected that micro-cell pattern chip technology could be applied to the development of novel bioactive compounds. (C) 2015 Society of Chemical Industry