Abstract
The field of organs-on-chips (OOCs) has experienced tremendous growth over the last decade. However, the current main limiting factor for further growth lies in the fabrication techniques utilized to reproducibly create multiscale and multifunctional devices. Conventional methods of photolithography and etching remain less useful to complex geometric conditions with high precision needed to manufacture the devices, while laser-induced methods have become an alternative for higher precision engineering yet remain costly. Meanwhile, soft lithography has become the foundation upon which OOCs are fabricated and newer methods including 3D printing and injection molding show great promise to innovate the way OOCs are fabricated. This review is focused on the advantages and disadvantages associated with the commonly used fabrication techniques applied to these microengineered physiological systems (MPS) and the obstacles that remain in the way of further innovation in the field.
Highlights
The pharmaceutical industry has faced increased demand to generate human organ-mimicking platforms for rapid and efficient drug screening, as drug discovery and development are an extremely costly and time-consuming process
Laser-induced methods refer to fabrication techniques that predominantly rely on the application of a laser
The automation of the various fabrication processes needs be achieved to create a standardized process across the field [59]
Summary
The pharmaceutical industry has faced increased demand to generate human organ-mimicking platforms for rapid and efficient drug screening, as drug discovery and development are an extremely costly and time-consuming process. Cultured cells have and are being served as one potential alternative to animal testing They are widely used for drug discovery and development because they are available, easy to use, and have fairly low costs [5,6]. Organs-on-chips (OOCs) studies over the past decade have been shown to have numerous advantages over conventional models and continue to serve as promising models which could eventually fully replace animal testing They are used in a wide range of applications to explore and recreate the cellular behaviors that occur in organs and tissues in vivo. The fabrication costs and time associated with developing the devices increase despite their limitation of only being able to fabricate the microfluidic chip [19] This means that additional processes are still required to implement the other three stages described earlier to fully develop an OOC [19].
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