Department of Chemical Engineering, Hongik University, Seoul, South Korea.
Methods Cell Biol. 2020;158:1-10. doi: 10.1016/bs.mcb.2020.01.003. Epub 2020 Feb 26.
Current in vitro model systems cannot recapitulate the complex interactions between multiple organs in the body, and the whole-body responses to drugs involving multiple organs. In addition, many diseases arise from a mechanism involving multiple organs, making it difficult to build realistic models of such diseases. Organ-on-a-chip technology offers an opportunity to mimic physiological microenvironment of in vivo tissues, as well as to reproduce interactions between organs by connecting these "organ modules." By realizing multi-organ interactions on a chip, it becomes possible to develop an in vitro model of diseases that involves complex interactions between organs. Here, we introduce the concept of "body-on-a-chip," with a specific emphasis on recapitulating the interaction between the gut and the liver, which play important roles in many diseases, as well as responses to drugs.
目前的体外模型系统无法再现体内多个器官之间的复杂相互作用，以及涉及多个器官的药物对全身的反应。此外，许多疾病的发生都涉及多个器官的机制，因此很难建立此类疾病的现实模型。器官芯片技术提供了模拟体内组织生理微环境的机会，通过连接这些“器官模块”，还可以再现器官之间的相互作用。通过在芯片上实现多器官相互作用，有可能开发出涉及器官间复杂相互作用的疾病体外模型。在这里，我们介绍了“芯片上的人体”的概念，特别强调了模拟在许多疾病以及对药物的反应中起重要作用的肠道和肝脏之间的相互作用。
