器官芯片的制备及生物医学工程应用

Organ-on-a-chip: Fabrication methods and biomedical applications

器官芯片是在体外构建疾病(或正常)模型的一种新兴技术,近几年受到科研工作者和医务人员的广泛关注.相比构建模型的传统方法,具有便携性、高通量、可模拟在体微环境等优势,在研究疾病的发病机理、筛选药物等方面有着广阔的应用前景.本文介绍了器官芯片的发展历程,综述了器官芯片的主要结构及材料,通过分析现有器官芯片的结构,认为高度集成的器官芯片包括微流控芯片、细胞/微组织、构建微环境的执行部件以及微传感器4个要素,针对每个要素介绍了其常用制备方法.随后讨论了器官芯片目前已取得的进展以及走向、临床应用所面临的挑战,最后展望了器官芯片未来的发展方向.

Organ-on-a-chip has emerged as a new technique for constructing normal or diseased models in vitro, attracting rapidly increasing attention from researchers and clinics. Similar to other traditional methods, the main advantages of organ-on-a-chip are its high portability, high throughput and ability to replicate microenvironment cells. Thus organ-on-a-chip holds great potential in disease pathogenesis study, drug screening, etc. In this paper, we reviewed the history of organ-on-a-chip and discussed the main constitutions and materials of organs-on-chips. Through evaluating the existing organs-on-chips, we proposed that a highly integrated organ-on-achip should include four elements, microfluidic chip, cells or microtissues, microenvironment building implementing parts, and microsensors. The manufacturing methods were summarized for each item. Besides, the latest developments in organ-on-a-chip and clinical technology problems have been added. In the end, this paper addressed organ-on-a-chip’s future directions.