Figure 1.

Modeling prenatal nicotine exposure employing human brain organoid-on-a-chip. (A) The schematic diagram of the brain organoid-on-a-chip system for modeling prenatal nicotine exposure. The brain organoid-on-a-chip system was established by sequential steps including EBs culture, neural differentiation and formation of brain organoids by integrating 3D Matrigel and fluid flow. By using this system, the effects of nicotine exposure on brain development at early stages were explored at early stages. (B) Immunohistochemical staining was performed for the expression of neural progenitor marker SOX2(red), neuronal marker TUJ1 (green), cortical layer markers TBR1(red) and CTIP2 (green), specific forebrain marker PAX6 (green), and hindbrain marker ISL1(red) in brain organoids on day 33. Nuclei are stained with DAPI (blue). Scale bars = 50 μm. Adapted from Wang et al. (2018). (http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C7LC01084B) with permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry.