Table 2.

A summary of the applications of different microfluidic platforms in gut microbiota research.

Research Platform		Cell Types	Microbial Types	Experimental Results	Significance of Experiment
Microfluidic gut-on-a-chip		Intestinal epithelial cells, endothelial cells, Caco-2 cells, absorptive cells, mucus-secreting cells, enteroendocrine cells, Paneth cells	Lactobacillus rhamnosus, Coxsackievirus B1, Shigella flexneri enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli	1. Simulation of intestinal villous barrier function [88]; 2. Simulation of biomechanical properties of intestinal peristalsis and fluid flow, formation of small intestinal villous structure, and co-culture of intestinal epithelial cells with Lactobacillus rhamnosus for several days to weeks [35]; 3. Successful replication of viral infection [36]; 4. Successful replication of Shigella flexneri infection [44].	Used to study the interaction between intestinal cells and microbes in the gut microbiota, simulate the gut environment, investigate the intestinal absorption function and barrier function, and evaluate the impact of gut microbiota on human health.
Microfluidic drug delivery system	Droplet microfluidic platform	None	Bacteriophages	Droplet microfluidic technology can be used to deliver active bacteriophages to the gut [68].	Used to study microbial therapy, microbial delivery, and microbial release technology, and examine novel microbial therapy strategies.
	Microfluidic electrospray platform	None	Probiotics	1. Microfluidic electrospray technology combined with probiotics can prepare microcapsules for the treatment of MetS [71]. 2. Microfluidic electrospray technology can also be used to prepare microcapsules containing detoxified lipopolysaccharide, promote gut health by enhancing biomimetic barriers, and prevent harmful microbes from affecting the gut mucosa [86].	Used to study microbial therapy, microbial delivery, and microbial release technology, and explore novel microbial therapy strategies. It can also be used to study the construction of biomimetic barriers and gut barriers, and assess new methods for protecting gut health.