Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Nat Med. 2019 Aug;25(8):1310-1318. doi: 10.1038/s41591-019-0531-2. Epub 2019 Aug 5.
Here we present a miniaturized analog of a blinking human eye to reverse engineer the complexity of the interface between the ocular system and the external environment. Our model comprises human cells and provides unique capabilities to replicate multiscale structural organization, biological phenotypes and dynamically regulated environmental homeostasis of the human ocular surface. Using this biomimetic system, we discovered new biological effects of blink-induced mechanical forces. Furthermore, we developed a specialized in vitro model of evaporative dry-eye disease for high-content drug screening. This work advances our ability to emulate how human physiological systems interface with the external world, and may contribute to the future development of novel screening platforms for biopharmaceutical and environmental applications.
在这里，我们展示了一个微型化的人类眨眼模拟装置，以反向工程研究眼部系统与外部环境之间的复杂界面。我们的模型包含人类细胞，具有独特的能力来复制人类眼表面的多尺度结构组织、生物表型和动态调节的环境稳态。利用这种仿生系统，我们发现了眨眼引起的机械力的新生物学效应。此外，我们还开发了一种专门的体外蒸发性干眼症模型，用于高通量药物筛选。这项工作提高了我们模拟人类生理系统与外部世界相互作用的能力，并可能有助于未来开发用于生物制药和环境应用的新型筛选平台。
