Table 1.
Examples of Organs-on-chip models of the female reproductive system.
| Organ Model | Placenta-On-Chip (15) | Placenta-On-Chip (16) | Uterus-On-Chip (17) | Endometrium-On-Chip (32) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Co-cultured Cell types | Human trophoblast (BeWo b30) cell line | Human trophoblast (JEG-3) cell line | Mouse oocyte | Human primary endometrial stromal cells | |
| Human primary placental villous endothelial cells | Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) | Mouse endometrial epithelial cells | HUVECs | ||
| Culture Environment | Medium | Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle Medium (DMEM) and Endothelial cell growth medium (EGM™-2) | DMEM and EGM™-2 | EmbryoMax® Modified M16 Medium | EGM™-2 |
| Temperature | 37 °C | 37 °C | 37 °C | 37 °C | |
| O2 tension | Not applicable (N.A.) | N.A. | N.A. | 95% | |
| CO2 | N.A. | 5% | 5% | 5% | |
| Device characteristics | Top Layer | Channel: 1 mm × 1.5 cm × 135 μm (w × l × h) | Channel: 500 μm × 200 μm (w × h) | Zigzag Channel: 500 μm × 110 μm (w × h) | Chamber: 7.75 mm × 6.2 mm |
| Bottom Layer | Channel: 1 mm × 1.5 cm ×135 μm (w × l × h) | Channel: 500 μm × 200 μm (w × h) | Channels: 6 mm × 3 mm × 0.11 mm (l × w × h) | Chamber: 7.75 mm × 6.2 mm | |
| Device Material | Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) | PDMS | PDMS | PDMS | |
| Membrane Material | Polycarbonate (PC) | Vitrified collagen | PC | Epoxy resin (EPON 1002F) | |
| Membrane Pore size | 1 μm | N.A. | 8 μm | 2 μm | |
| Culture characteristics | Coating | Fibronectin | Fibronectin and gelatin | Gelatin | Matrigel |
| Static versus dynamic | Dynamic | Dynamic | Dynamic | Static/dynamic | |
| Flow rate | 100 μL h−1 | 30 μL h−1 | 10 μL h−1 | 1 μL min−1 |