Figure 34.

Microfluidic organ-on-a-chip models. (A) Microfluidics-based 3D neurovascular unit platform. (a) Design of the platform to create a blood–brain barrier. (b) Fabrication steps to form the microfluidic blood–brain barrier. Reprinted with permission from ref (801). Copyright 2017 Nature Publishing Group. (B) Gut-on-a-chip microfluidic platform. (a) Device design with a porous stretchable membrane. (b) Comparison of cell shape and polarity in a static Transwell model and the recreated gut microenvironment. Scale bars, 20 μm. Reprinted with permission from ref (798). Copyright 2012 Royal Society of Chemistry. (C) 3D printed oviduct-on-a-chip platform. (a) Schematics of the device. (b) 3D cultured bovine oviduct epithelial cells (BOECs) in the device. Scale bars, 25 μm. (c) Ciliated cells at the air–liquid interface during culture. (d) On-chip monospermic oocyte penetrations. Scale bar, 50 μm. Reprinted with permission from ref (797). Copyright 2017 Royal Society of Chemistry. (D) Multiorgan-on-a-plate system. (a) Multiorgan models and microfluidic circulatory networks. (b) Assembly of the device. (c) Evaluation of three anticancer drugs in the four-organ system composed of the intestine, liver, cancer, and connective tissue models. Reprinted with permission from ref (787). Copyright 2017 Royal Society of Chemistry.