Flexible organ-on-a-chip device replicates complex curved surfaces

Human organs are challenging systems to reproduce on a chip, owing to their complex combinations of mechanical features and dynamic curved interfaces. However, mimicking the right characteristics and maintaining the ability to adjust their properties is essential for creating convincing reproductions and drug screening.

Su et al. developed a microfluidic chip that can replicate the dynamic curved interfaces found in blood vessels, intestines, and bladders and fitted it with controlled drug release and imaging capabilities. They demonstrated the chip’s customizability by mimicking a volunteer’s organ.

“Our microfluidic organ chips replicate human tissue components, interfaces, and physicochemical and biological microenvironments,” said author Xiao Liu. “Combined with advanced imaging methods, chemical sensors, and biological measurements, they can provide valuable information on the functional tissue.”

Their chip comprises a cell-culture channel and a hydrogel drug channel divided by a deformable polydimethylsiloxane membrane, all of which can be finely controlled. The team validated the achieved tissue properties like flow shear stress, dynamic strain, and substrate stiffness using theoretical models and experimental methods.

As a practical test, they used their chip to reproduce the specific properties of a volunteer’s carotid artery bifurcation, identifying atherosclerosis risk in the otherwise healthy volunteer.

The adaptable chip can model a multitude of organs and fit the needs of different patients for personalized medical treatments.

“We believe that the system can provide a superior platform for promoting the study of physiological processes, human diseases, and drug responses compared to traditional 2D cell cultures or animal models,” said Liu.

In the future, the authors plan to use this device to investigate biological processes and explore different drug delivery and screening methods.

Source: “Microfluidic organ chip of fluid-solid dynamic curved interface,” by Haoran Su, Tianxiang Ma, Xiao Liu, Li Wang, Fangjun Shu, Zhuqing Liang, Dongrui Zhang, Xing Zhang, Kexin Li, Min Wang, Chen Xin, Yu Zhang, Jing Zhang, Yao Du, and Yubo Fan, Applied Physics Reviews (2024). The article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0177386 .

This paper is part of the Materials and Technologies for Bioimaging and Biosensing Collection, learn more here .