bims-orenst Biomed News
on Organs-on-chips and engineered stem cell models
Issue of 2022‒02‒20
seven papers selected by
Joram Mooiweer
University of Groningen
  1. Fluidic circuit board with modular sensor and valves enables stand-alone, tubeless microfluidic flow control in organs-on-chips.
  2. Development of human-derived, three-dimensional respiratory epithelial tissue constructs with perfusable microvasculature on a high-throughput microfluidics screening platform.
  3. Vascularized Tumor Spheroid-on-a-Chip Model Verifies Synergistic Vasoprotective and Chemotherapeutic Effects.
  4. Imaging-guided bioreactor for de-epithelialization and long-term cultivation of ex vivo rat trachea.
  5. Tumor spheroid invasion in epidermal growth factor gradients revealed by a 3D microfluidic device.
  6. Functional Characterization of Mechanosensitive Piezo1 Channels in Trigeminal and Somatic Nerves in a Neuron-on-Chip Model.
  7. Suspension culture promotes serosal mesothelial development in human intestinal organoids.
  1. Lab Chip. 2022 Feb 18.
    Fluidic circuit board with modular sensor and valves enables stand-alone, tubeless microfluidic flow control in organs-on-chips.
    Aisen Vivas, Albert van den Berg, Robert Passier, Mathieu Odijk, Andries D van der Meer.
      Organs-on-chips are a unique class of microfluidic in vitro cell culture models, in which the in vivo tissue microenvironment is mimicked. Unfortunately, their widespread use is hampered by their operation complexity and incompatibility with end-user research settings. To address these issues, many commercial and non-commercial platforms have been developed for semi-automated culture of organs-on-chips. However, these organ-on-chip culture platforms each represent a closed ecosystem, with very little opportunity to interchange and integrate components from different platforms or to develop new ones. The translational organ-on-chip platform (TOP) is a multi-institutional effort to develop an open platform for automated organ-on-chip culture and integration of components from various developers. Central to TOP is the fluidic circuit board (FCB), a microfluidic plate with the form factor of a typical well plate. The FCB enables microfluidic control of multiple components like sensors or organ-on-chip devices through an interface based on openly available standards. Here, we report an FCB to integrate commercial and in-house developed components forming a stand-alone flow control system for organs-on-chips. The control system is able to achieve constant and pulsatile flow recirculation through a connected organ-on-chip device. We demonstrate that this system is able to automatically perfuse a heart-on-chip device containing co-cultures of cardiac tissues derived from human pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and monolayers of endothelial cells for five days. Altogether, we conclude that open technology platforms allow the integration of components from different sources to form functional and fit-for-purpose organ-on-chip systems. We anticipate that open platforms will play a central role in catalyzing and maturing further technological development of organ-on-chip culture systems.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1039/d1lc00999k
  2. Biofabrication. 2022 Feb 14. 14(2):
    Development of human-derived, three-dimensional respiratory epithelial tissue constructs with perfusable microvasculature on a high-throughput microfluidics screening platform.
    Olive Jung, Yen-Ting Tung, Esther Sim, Yu-Chi Chen, Emily Lee, Marc Ferrer, Min Jae Song.
      The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for human respiratory tract-based assay platforms for efficient discovery and development of antivirals and disease-modulating therapeutics. Physiologically relevant tissue models of the lower respiratory tract (LRT), including the respiratory bronchioles and the alveolar sacs, are of high interest because they are the primary site of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and are most affected during the terminal stage of COVID-19. Current epithelial lung models used to study respiratory viral infections include lung epithelial cells at the air-liquid interface (ALI) with fibroblasts and endothelial cells, but such models do not have a perfusable microvascular network to investigate both viral infectivity and viral infection-induced thrombotic events. Using a high throughput, 64-chip microfluidic plate-based platform, we have developed two novel vascularized, LRT multi-chip models for the alveoli and the small airway. Both models include a perfusable microvascular network consisting of human primary microvascular endothelial cells, fibroblasts and pericytes. The established biofabrication protocols also enable the formation of differentiated lung epithelial layers at the ALI on top of the vascularized tissue bed. We validated the physiologically relevant cellular composition, architecture and perfusion of the vascularized lung tissue models using fluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, and electrical resistance measurements. These vascularized, perfusable microfluidic lung tissue on high throughput assay platforms will enable the development of respiratory viral infection and disease models for research investigation and drug discovery.
    Keywords:  3D in vitro model; alveolar epithelium; barrier function; high-throughput platform; microfluidic perfusion; small airway epithelium; vascular network
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1088/1758-5090/ac32a5
  3. ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2022 Feb 15.
    Vascularized Tumor Spheroid-on-a-Chip Model Verifies Synergistic Vasoprotective and Chemotherapeutic Effects.
    Zhiwei Hu, Yuanxiong Cao, Edgar A Galan, Liang Hao, Haoran Zhao, Jiyuan Tang, Gan Sang, Hanqi Wang, Bing Xu, Shaohua Ma.
      Prolyl hydroxylases (PHD) inhibitors have been observed to improve drug distribution in mice tumors via blood vessel normalization, increasing the effectiveness of chemotherapy. These effects are yet to be demonstrated in human cell models. Tumor spheroids are three-dimensional cell clusters that have demonstrated great potential in drug evaluation for personalized medicine. Here, we used a perfusable vascularized tumor spheroid-on-a-chip to simulate the tumor microenvironment in vivo and demonstrated that the PHD inhibitor dimethylallyl glycine prevents the degradation of normal blood vessels while enhancing the efficacy of the anticancer drugs paclitaxel and cisplatin in human esophageal carcinoma (Eca-109) spheroids. Our results point to the potential of this model to evaluate anticancer drugs under more physiologically relevant conditions.
    Keywords:  DMOG; cisplatin; paclitaxel; tumor spheroids-on-chips; vasculature-on-chips; vessel normalization
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.1c01099
  4. Lab Chip. 2022 Feb 15.
    Imaging-guided bioreactor for de-epithelialization and long-term cultivation of ex vivo rat trachea.
    Seyed Mohammad Mir, Jiawen Chen, Meghan R Pinezich, John D O'Neill, Sarah X L Huang, Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, Jinho Kim.
      Recent synergistic advances in organ-on-chip and tissue engineering technologies offer opportunities to create in vitro-grown tissue or organ constructs that can faithfully recapitulate their in vivo counterparts. Such in vitro tissue or organ constructs can be utilized in multiple applications, including rapid drug screening, high-fidelity disease modeling, and precision medicine. Here, we report an imaging-guided bioreactor that allows in situ monitoring of the lumen of ex vivo airway tissues during controlled in vitro tissue manipulation and cultivation of isolated rat trachea. Using this platform, we demonstrated partial removal of the rat tracheal epithelium (i.e., de-epithelialization) without disrupting the underlying subepithelial cells and extracellular matrix. Through different tissue evaluation assays, such as immunofluorescent staining, DNA/protein quantification, and electron beam microscopy, we showed that the epithelium of the tracheal lumen can be effectively removed with negligible disruption in the underlying tissue layers, such as cartilage and blood vessel. Notably, using a custom-built micro-optical imaging device integrated with the bioreactor, the trachea lumen was visualized at the cellular level, and removal of the endogenous epithelium and distribution of locally delivered exogenous cells were demonstrated in situ. Moreover, the de-epithelialized trachea supported on the bioreactor allowed attachment and growth of exogenous cells seeded topically on its denuded tissue surface. Collectively, the results suggest that our imaging-enabled rat trachea bioreactor and localized cell replacement method can facilitate creation of bioengineered in vitro airway tissue that can be used in different biomedical applications.
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1039/d1lc01105g
  5. Phys Biol. 2022 Feb 14.
    Tumor spheroid invasion in epidermal growth factor gradients revealed by a 3D microfluidic device.
    Young Joon Suh, Mrinal Pandey, Jeffrey E Segall, Mingming Wu.
      Epidermal growth factor (EGF), a potent cytokine, is known to promote tumor invasion both in vivo and in vitro. Previously, we observed that single breast tumor cells (MDA-MB-231 cell line) embedded within a 3D collagen matrix displayed enhanced motility but no discernible chemotaxis in the presence of linear EGF gradients using a microfluidic platform. Inspired by a recent theoretical development that clustered mammalian cells respond differently to chemical gradients than single cells, we studied tumor spheroid invasion within a 3D extracellular matrix (ECM) in the presence of EGF gradients. We found that EGF gradients promoted tumor cell detachment from the spheroid core, and the position of the tumor spheroid core showed a mild chemotactic response towards the EGF gradients. For those tumor cells detached from the spheroids, they showed an enhanced motility response in contrast to previous experimental results using single cells embedded within an ECM. No discernible chemotactic response towards the EGF gradients was found for the cells outside the spheroid core. This work demonstrates that a cluster of tumor cells responds differently than single tumor cells towards EGF gradients and highlights the importance of a tumor spheroid platform for tumor invasion studies.
    Keywords:  3D ECM; EGF; chemotaxis; invasion; microfluidics; tumor microenvironment; tumor spheroid
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1088/1478-3975/ac54c7
  6. Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Jan 25. pii: 1370. [Epub ahead of print]23(3):
    Functional Characterization of Mechanosensitive Piezo1 Channels in Trigeminal and Somatic Nerves in a Neuron-on-Chip Model.
    Nikita Mikhailov, Lidiia Plotnikova, Prateek Singh, Rashid Giniatullin, Riikka H Hämäläinen.
      Mechanosensitive ion channels, Piezo1 and 2, are activated by pressure and involved in diverse physiological functions, including senses of touch and pain, proprioception and many more. Understanding their function is important for elucidating the mechanosensitive mechanisms of a range of human diseases. Recently, Piezo channels were suggested to be contributors to migraine pain generation. Migraine is typically characterized by allodynia and mechanical hyperalgesia associated with the activation and sensitization of trigeminal ganglion (TG) nerve fibers. Notably, migraine specific medicines are ineffective for other types of pain, suggesting a distinct underlying mechanism. To address, in a straightforward manner, the specificity of the mechanosensitivity of trigeminal vs. somatic nerves, we compared the activity of Piezo1 channels in mouse TG neurons vs. dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons. We assessed the functional expression of Piezo1 receptors using a conventional live calcium imaging setup equipped with a multibarrel application system and utilizing a microfluidic chip-based setup. Surprisingly, the TG neurons, despite higher expression of the Piezo1 gene, were less responsive to Piezo1 agonist Yoda1 than the DRG neurons. This difference was more prominent in the chip-based setup, suggesting that certain limitations of the conventional approach, such as turbulence, can be overcome by utilizing microfluidic devices with laminar solution flow.
    Keywords:  Piezo1; calcium imaging; dorsal root; mechanosensitive receptors; microfluidics; migraine; trigeminal
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031370
  7. Cell Rep. 2022 02 15. pii: S2211-1247(22)00100-0. [Epub ahead of print]38(7): 110379
    Suspension culture promotes serosal mesothelial development in human intestinal organoids.
    Meghan M Capeling, Sha Huang, Charlie J Childs, Joshua H Wu, Yu-Hwai Tsai, Angeline Wu, Neil Garg, Emily M Holloway, Nambirajan Sundaram, Carine Bouffi, Michael Helmrath, Jason R Spence.
      Pluripotent-stem-cell-derived human intestinal organoids (HIOs) model some aspects of intestinal development and disease, but current culture methods do not fully recapitulate the diverse cell types and complex organization of the human intestine and are reliant on 3D extracellular matrix or hydrogel systems, which limit experimental control and translational potential for regenerative medicine. We describe suspension culture as a simple, low-maintenance method for culturing HIOs and for promoting in vitro differentiation of an organized serosal mesothelial layer that is similar to primary human intestinal serosal mesothelium based on single-cell RNA sequencing and histological analysis. Functionally, HIO serosal mesothelium has the capacity to differentiate into smooth-muscle-like cells and exhibits fibrinolytic activity. An inhibitor screen identifies Hedgehog and WNT signaling as regulators of human serosal mesothelial differentiation. Collectively, suspension HIOs represent a three-dimensional model to study the human serosal mesothelium.
    Keywords:  human pluripotent stem cell; intestinal organoid; intestine; organoid; serosal mesothelium; suspension culture
    DOI:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110379
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