Engineering a living cardiac pump on a chip using high-precision fabrication.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Tissue Engineering
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Biomimetic on-chip tissue models are crucial for studying human physiology and drug development.
• Current limitations include the inability to create highly ordered, functional structures at small scales.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate how high-precision fabrication can enable scaled-down modeling of organ-level cardiac mechanical function.
• To develop a microfluidic system that recapitulates ventricular fluidic function.

Main Methods:

• Utilized two-photon direct laser writing (TPDLW) for nanoscale-resolution metamaterial scaffold fabrication.
• Engineered a miniaturized, induced pluripotent stem cell-derived ventricular chamber with tunable mechanical properties.
• Fabricated highly sensitive microfluidic valves to control fluid flow.

Main Results:

• The fabricated scaffold supported the formation and cyclic contraction of the ventricular chamber.
• The integrated microfluidic system successfully recapitulated ventricular fluidic function.
• The system exhibited a complete pressure-volume loop with isovolumetric phases.

Conclusions:

• High-precision fabrication is a novel approach for creating sophisticated organ-on-a-chip models.
• This technology can expand the range of accessible organ-on-a-chip models for research.
• The developed system offers a platform for studying cardiac mechanics and developing therapeutics.