Mancini Vanessa, Pensabene Virginia
School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
School of Medicine, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
Bioengineering (Basel). 2019 Nov 7;6(4):103. doi: 10.3390/bioengineering6040103.
Microfluidic-based technology attracts great interest in cell biology and medicine, in virtue of the ability to better mimic the in vivo cell microenvironment compared to conventional macroscale cell culture platforms. Recent Organs-on-chip (OoC) models allow to reproduce in vitro tissue and organ-level functions of living organs and systems. These models have been applied for the study of specific functions of the female reproductive tract, which is composed of several organs interconnected through intricate endocrine pathways and communication mechanisms. To date, a disease and toxicology study of this system has been difficult to perform. Thus, there is a compelling need to develop innovative platforms for the generation of disease model and for performing drug toxicity/screening in vitro studies. This review is focused on the analysis of recently published OoC models that recreate pathological and physiological characteristics of the female reproductive organs and tissues. These models aim to be used to assess changes in metabolic activity of the specific cell types and the effect of exposure to hormonal treatment or chemical substances on some aspects of reproduction and fertility. We examined these models in terms of device specifications, operating procedures, accuracy for studying the biochemical and functional activity of living tissues and the paracrine signalling that occurs within the different tissues. These models represent a powerful tool for understanding important diseases and syndromes affecting women all around the world. Immediate adoption of these models will allow to clarify diseases, causes and adverse events occurring during pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia, infertility or preterm birth, endometriosis and infertility.
基于微流控的技术在细胞生物学和医学领域引起了极大的关注，因为与传统的宏观细胞培养平台相比，它能够更好地模拟体内细胞微环境。最近的器官芯片（OoC）模型能够在体外重现活体器官和系统的组织及器官水平功能。这些模型已被应用于女性生殖道特定功能的研究，女性生殖道由多个通过复杂的内分泌途径和通讯机制相互连接的器官组成。迄今为止，对该系统进行疾病和毒理学研究一直很困难。因此，迫切需要开发创新平台来生成疾病模型并进行体外药物毒性/筛选研究。本综述着重分析最近发表的重现女性生殖器官和组织病理及生理特征的OoC模型。这些模型旨在用于评估特定细胞类型代谢活性的变化，以及激素治疗或化学物质暴露对生殖和生育某些方面的影响。我们从设备规格、操作程序、研究活体组织生化和功能活性的准确性以及不同组织内发生的旁分泌信号传导等方面对这些模型进行了研究。这些模型是理解影响全球女性的重要疾病和综合征的有力工具。立即采用这些模型将有助于阐明怀孕期间发生的疾病、病因和不良事件，如先兆子痫、不孕或早产、子宫内膜异位症和不孕。
