Organ-on-a-chip platforms for accelerating the evaluation of nanomedicine

Abstract

Nanomedicine involves the use of engineered nanoscale materials in an extensive range of diagnostic and therapeutic applications and can be applied to the treatment of many diseases. Despite the rapid progress and tremendous potential of nanomedicine in the past decades, the clinical translational process is still quite slow, owing to the difficulty in understanding, evaluating, and predicting nanomaterial behaviors within the complex environment of human beings. Microfluidics-based organ-on-a-chip (Organ Chip) techniques offer a promising way to resolve these challenges. Sophisticatedly designed Organ Chip enable in vitro simulation of the in vivo microenvironments, thus providing robust platforms for evaluating nanomedicine. Herein, we review recent developments and achievements in Organ Chip models for nanomedicine evaluations, categorized into seven broad sections based on the target organ systems: respiratory, digestive, lymphatic, excretory, nervous, and vascular, as well as coverage on applications relating to cancer. We conclude by providing our perspectives on the challenges and potential future directions for applications of Organ Chip in nanomedicine.

Multi-Organs-on-Chips for Testing Small-Molecule Drugs: Challenges and Perspectives

“…MOC designs for the blood brain barrier have come into prominence as potential models to obtain significant predictions for the transport and efficacy of nanomedicine [40]. Miller and Shuler developed a MOC model for a 13-organ system with various cell lines by mimicking the main parenchymal organs and physiological barrier tissues in the human body to investigate the inter-organ transport of biological agents for drug response [41].…”

“…In contrast, stereolithography has long-term cell viability concerns due to toxicity issues stemming from the use of radiation due to the application of UV sources [93]. Apart from the manufacturing techniques of MOCs, the functionalization of these platforms to mimic organs' essential functions is crucial [40]. Mimicking these functions allows us to achieve accurate and reliable preclinical analysis.…”

Tackling Current Biomedical Challenges With Frontier Biofabrication and Organ-On-A-Chip Technologies

“…Furthermore, integration with microfluidic platforms could further allow the assessment of in situ cytotoxicity and the dynamic drug-transport and -delivery behavior from nanocarriers in the same system ( Zhang et al, 2017b ; Chen et al, 2018 , 2021 ). The dizzying expansion of these technologies has, however, seen the need to re-isolate the cells once they have done their job within a complex bioprinted or microfluidic system.…”

Advanced Nanoparticle-Based Drug Delivery Systems and Their Cellular Evaluation for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Treatment

“…Another advanced 3D cell model is the microfluidics-based organ-on-a-chip (Organ Chip), which has recently received increased attention as a promising platform as this cell model accurately replicates the microenvironments of native tissues and various tissue-tissue interactions [ 199 ]. It simulates the tissue-level or organ-level physiology, which is not possible with conventional 2D or 3D static culture systems via continuous perfusion of the chambers containing living cells using a microfluidic cell culture device.…”

“…Nevertheless, the development of an organ chip system is laborious and challenging, since there is a possibility of the interaction between nanomedicine and microfluidics systems as well as the difficulty to initiate and maintain the primary cells used in these systems. Additionally, achieving real-time and continuous monitoring of the biological effects of nanomedicine and the requirement to standardize the Organ Chip to accurately evaluate the pharmacokinetic profiles of the nanomedicine remain a challenge [ 199 ].…”