Modular tissue-in-a-CUBE platform to model blood-brain barrier (BBB) and brain interaction

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Tissue Engineering
• Organoid Technology

Background:

• Sophisticated organoids necessitate technology for multi-tissue/organ interaction replication.
• Varying cell culture conditions and complex microfluidic setups pose challenges for current methods.
• Fragile tissue samples and operational complexity hinder the replication of intricate human systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a modular multi-tissue chip platform using a CUBE device for simplified in vitro human system replication.
• To create and validate a blood-brain barrier-in-a-CUBE model.
• To demonstrate the platform's utility in drug permeability and glioblastoma cancer modeling.

Main Methods:

• Development of a modular CUBE device for multi-tissue integration.
• Creation of a blood-brain barrier model using astrocytes, pericytes, and brain microvascular endothelial cells within the CUBE.
• Integration of the Tissue-in-a-CUBE with a chip for in vitro drug testing and cancer modeling.

Main Results:

• Successful establishment and functional validation of the blood-brain barrier-in-a-CUBE model, confirming tight junction and transporter protein expression.
• Demonstration of in vitro drug permeability testing across the blood-brain barrier.
• Application in modeling glioblastoma brain cancer and assessing drug effects.

Conclusions:

• The modular CUBE platform offers a user-friendly approach to building complex multi-tissue organoid models.
• This technology facilitates in vitro drug screening and disease modeling, particularly for brain-related conditions.
• The platform is adaptable for creating intricate in vitro human systems by combining multiple CUBE units.