Figure 1.

Organ-on-a-chip models for mimicking a single organ or a combination of organs. (a) Kidney-on-a-chip is developed for monitoring nephrotoxicity. Schematic design and actual image of a kidney-on-a-chip. Junctional protein expression of each group. The static and shear groups are measured before exposure to gentamicin, and D1 and D2 groups are measured 24 h after exposure to gentamicin. All groups show improved polarization compared to Transwell cultures. Source: Biofabrication, 2016 [56]; (b) lung/liver-on-a-chip combines two types of organs for investigating aerosol toxicity. A photograph of the chip system comprising the pump main unit with four pump heads, the PEEK chip, and the reservoir plate. A schematic view of the chip comprising four circuits is shown; each circuit includes two compartments to house the lung and liver tissues. The cross-section schemas of the plates show the path of the tubes and channels and the relative depth of each well. Source: Lab Chip, 2018 [55]; (c) a close-up view of the two compartments showing the groove pattern on the bottom of the wells; left (c). AFB1 toxicity was assessed using the lung/liver-on-a-chip. TEER and ATP content were measured in untreated or AFB1-exposed NHBE ALI tissues either in monoculture (NHBE ALI, dynamic) or coculture with HepaRG spheroids (NHBE ALI, coculture); right (c) nanofiber-membrane-assisted lung-on-a-chip system is used for anticancer drug testing. Source: Lab Chip, 2018 [54].