A modular microfluidic chip unit for multiple-organ-on-chip platform integration and drug screening.

Area of Science:

• Biotechnology
• Pharmacology
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Organ-on-chip systems offer in vitro drug testing alternatives to animal models.
• In vivo organs are separated by barriers but connected via circulation.
• Existing platforms lack modularity for complex inter-organ studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a reconfigurable microfluidic chip array for a multi-organ-on-a-chip (MoC) platform.
• To enable the study of inter-organ crosstalk and systemic drug responses.
• To provide a scalable alternative to animal testing in drug development.

Main Methods:

• Designed a modular, bicompartmental microfluidic chip unit with integrated microchannels.
• Developed a system for static or dynamic perfusion within chip units.
• Assembled units into linear and matrix arrays for high-throughput and systemic analysis.
• Constructed a liver-tumour MoC model to investigate inter-organ interactions.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated significant alteration in drug efficacy and toxicity by varying liver-to-tumour cell ratios.
• Confirmed inter-organ crosstalk influencing drug responses in the MoC model.
• Validated the platform's capability for studying systemic drug effects.

Conclusions:

• The modular MoC platform facilitates scalable research on systemic drug responses and inter-organ interactions.
• This technology shows strong potential to reduce reliance on animal models in pharmaceutical research.
• The reconfigurable design supports diverse experimental setups for drug discovery and toxicology.