Microfluidic Co-Culture Platform to Recapitulate the Maternal-Placental-Embryonic Axis

Safety assessment of the effects of developmental toxicants on pregnant women is challenging, and systemic effects in embryo-maternal interactions are largely unknown. However, most developmental toxicity studies rely on animal trials, while in vitro platforms that recapitulate the maternal-placental-embryonic axis are missing. Here, the development of a dedicated microfluidic device for co-cultivation of a placental barrier and 3D embryoid bodies to enable systemic toxicity testing at the embryo-maternal interface is reported. The microfluidic platform features simple handling and recuperation of both tissue models, which facilitates post-hoc in-depth analysis at the tissue and single-cell level. Gravity-driven flow enables inter-tissue communication through the liquid phase as well as simple and robust operation and renders the platform parallelizable. As a proof of concept and to demonstrate platform use for systemic embryotoxicity testing in vitro, maternal exposure to plastic microparticles is emulated, and microparticle effects on the embryo-placental co-culture are investigated.