TEN miniature models of human organs have been linked up to create the closest we have yet come to a human-on-a-chip. Such systems may eventually replace animal testing.
快猫短视频s around the world have been developing organs-on-chips. These typically have a 3D structure containing multiple types of cells from a particular organ. To keep them alive, they are continuously fed a nutrient-rich fluid. All this makes them more representative of human organs in the body than cells in a tube or animal models, says at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Griffith and her team have linked up 10 such organs to mimic the human body. First, they connected their models of the lung, gut and endometrium to a liver chip. Once this was working, they added brain, heart, pancreas, kidney, skin and muscle models.
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All the organ tissues survived for the four weeks they were tested, says Griffith. The organs-on-chips also produced similar proteins to real human organs. When a common painkiller called diclofenac was applied to the gut chip, the other chips responded similarly to human organs (Scientific Reports, ).
Next, the team hopes to incorporate a chip that represents fat, which plays an important role in processing drugs. 鈥淲e鈥檙e a long way from having a true human-on-a-chip,鈥� says Griffith. 鈥淭his is still only a minimal representation of a human.鈥�
The researchers are also working on adding bacteria to their gut chip, to better understand the microbiome. They hope to connect this chip to brain and immune system chips to study Parkinson鈥檚 disease.
Griffith also wants to create mini models of endometriosis, which is difficult to study in lab animals, and a cervix-on-a-chip to investigate infections like bacterial vaginosis.
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淢iniature organs mimic human body鈥�