Microfluidic Devices: A New Paradigm in Toxicity Studies

Abstract

In recent years, great emphasis has been placed on non-animal toxicological methods (e.g.in vitro models,in silico or −omics data) as alternative strategies to reduce animal-testing, in line with the 3R principle. These methods help in the rapid and accurate estimation of preclinical efficacy and safety associated with discovery of new drugs, and reduction of failure rates in clinical trials. Currently, the in vitro studies have been in a transformation or replacement from two-dimensional cell cultures to three-dimensional cell cultures that can mimic the physiology of tissues, organs, and organism. In this context, organ-on-a-chip systems have been developed by integration of three-dimensional culture models with emerging microfluidic technologies. The organ-on-a-chip systems provide a good understanding of dose-response and toxicity mechanisms in drug development process, since impact of xenobiotics on human body can be predicted in a satisfactory level. Besides, these systems may support assessment of pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic parameters as well as detection of drug resistance. Models can be generated as “disease-models-on-a-chip” or with healthy cells to evaluate response to xenobiotic under test. In this study, we will focus on microfluidic systems being used in organ-on-a-chip systems and emphasize their potential for toxicity studies in which micro-environments of examples including liver,kidney,brain,lung,heart,and intestines and their physiological properties as reflected to organ-on-a-chip models.