Development of a kidney microphysiological system hardware platform for microgravity studies

Area of Science:

• Space biology
• Renal physiology
• Biomedical engineering

Background:

• Current methods for assessing kidney function in microgravity lack sensitivity.
• Existing "organ on chip" models are incompatible with spaceflight constraints.
• Early kidney dysfunction detection is crucial for astronaut health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a spaceflight-compatible hardware platform for kidney microphysiological models.
• To enable the study of kidney proximal tubule function under microgravity conditions.
• To facilitate early detection of kidney dysfunction in space.

Main Methods:

• Engineering of the Kidney Chip Perfusion Platform (KCPP) with key components: kidney microphysiological system (MPS), housing, valve block, media/fixative cassettes, and precision syringe pump.
• Deployment of the KCPP on two International Space Station National Laboratory (ISSNL) missions (CRS-17 and CRS-22).
• Collection of proximal tubule microphysiological system (PT-MPS) effluent for biomarker and transcriptomics analysis.

Main Results:

• The KCPP successfully supported kidney MPS experiments in microgravity.
• Effluent recovery for biomarker analysis was achieved.
• RNA suitable for transcriptomics analysis was successfully recovered, demonstrating system functionality.

Conclusions:

• The Kidney Chip Perfusion Platform (KCPP) is a viable, semi-autonomous hardware solution for kidney research in microgravity.
• The KCPP enables sensitive assessment of kidney function and dysfunction mechanisms in space.
• This technology advances the study of renal physiology and disease in the space environment.