Abstract
The advent of the miniaturization approach has influenced the research trends in almost all disciplines. Bioengineering is one of the fields benefiting from the new possibilities of microfabrication techniques, especially in cell and tissue culture, disease modeling, and drug discovery. The limitations of existing 2D cell culture techniques, the high time and cost requirements, and the considerable failure rates have led to the idea of 3D cell culture environments capable of providing physiologically relevant tissue functions in vitro. Organ-on-chips are microfluidic devices used in this context as a potential alternative to in vivo animal testing to reduce the cost and time required for drug evaluation. This emerging technology contributes significantly to the development of various research areas, including, but not limited to, tissue engineering and drug discovery. However, it also brings many challenges. Further development of the technology requires interdisciplinary studies as some problems are associated with the materials and their manufacturing techniques. Therefore, in this paper, organ-on-chip technologies are presented, focusing on the design and fabrication requirements. Then, state-of-the-art materials and microfabrication techniques are described in detail to show their advantages and also their limitations. A comparison and identification of gaps for current use and further studies are therefore the subject of the final discussion.
Highlights
Tracing the history of in vitro research back to its beginnings in the early twentieth century, it was started by Ross G
Microfabrication is the art of miniaturizing devices, which is completely different from conventional machining and manufacturing
The results showed good agreement with in vivo tests conducted on rats [228]
Summary
Tracing the history of in vitro research back to its beginnings in the early twentieth century, it was started by Ross G. Since the 1930s and the discovery of collagen as a component of connective tissue, a number of experiments have made scientific breakthroughs by creating environments for cell growth This has been accompanied by other interdisciplinary research, including biomechanics and mechatronics, to develop the technology [3,4]. To improve the shape factors that affect biofunction in vivo, microstructured substrates, such as cell adhesive islands and micro pillars, have been introduced [6] This shape enhancement helps improve cell function in vitro, which has led researchers to incorporate more advanced environments into cell culture systems to create 3D models and develop techniques, such as sandwich culturing, microstructuring, and substrate stiffness modification [7]. 2D cultures allow lowcost assays, they cannot fully recapitulate the overall structure and physiological functions
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