Arık Yusuf B, van der Helm Marinke W, Odijk Mathieu, Segerink Loes I, Passier Robert, van den Berg Albert, van der Meer Andries D
BIOS Lab on a Chip Group, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, Max Planck Center for Complex Fluid Dynamics, University of Twente, 7522 NB Enschede, The Netherlands.
Department of Applied Stem Cell Technologies, University of Twente, 7522 NB Enschede, The Netherlands.
Biomicrofluidics. 2018 Jun 26;12(4):042218. doi: 10.1063/1.5023041. eCollection 2018 Jul.
Disruption of tissue barriers formed by cells is an integral part of the pathophysiology of many diseases. Therefore, a thorough understanding of tissue barrier function is essential when studying the causes and mechanisms of disease as well as when developing novel treatments. methods play an integral role in understanding tissue barrier function, and several techniques have been developed in order to evaluate barrier integrity of cultured cell layers, from microscopy imaging of cell-cell adhesion proteins to measuring ionic currents, to flux of water or transport of molecules across cellular barriers. Unfortunately, many of the current methods suffer from not fully recapitulating the microenvironment of tissues and organs. Recently, organ-on-chip devices have emerged to overcome this challenge. Organs-on-chips are microfluidic cell culture devices with continuously perfused microchannels inhabited by living cells. Freedom of changing the design of device architecture offers the opportunity of recapitulating the physiological environment while measuring barrier function. Assessment of barriers in organs-on-chips can be challenging as they may require dedicated setups and have smaller volumes that are more sensitive to environmental conditions. But they do provide the option of continuous, non-invasive sensing of barrier quality, which enables better investigation of important aspects of pathophysiology, biological processes, and development of therapies that target barrier tissues. Here, we discuss several techniques to assess barrier function of tissues in organs-on-chips, highlighting advantages and technical challenges.
细胞形成的组织屏障的破坏是许多疾病病理生理学的一个组成部分。因此，在研究疾病的病因和机制以及开发新的治疗方法时，全面了解组织屏障功能至关重要。方法在理解组织屏障功能中起着不可或缺的作用，并且已经开发了几种技术来评估培养细胞层的屏障完整性，从细胞间粘附蛋白的显微镜成像到测量离子电流，再到水的通量或分子跨细胞屏障的转运。不幸的是，目前的许多方法都存在不能完全重现组织和器官微环境的问题。最近，芯片器官装置应运而生以克服这一挑战。芯片器官是一种微流控细胞培养装置，其连续灌注的微通道中栖息着活细胞。改变装置架构设计的自由度为在测量屏障功能的同时重现生理环境提供了机会。评估芯片器官中的屏障可能具有挑战性，因为它们可能需要专门的设置，并且体积较小，对环境条件更敏感。但它们确实提供了连续、非侵入性检测屏障质量的选择，这有助于更好地研究病理生理学、生物过程的重要方面以及针对屏障组织的治疗方法的开发。在这里，我们讨论几种评估芯片器官中组织屏障功能的技术，突出其优点和技术挑战。
