Nanoparticles Stokes radius assessment through permeability coefficient determination within a new stratified epithelium on-chip model

Abstract

Tissue barrier permeability plays a crucial role in determining the selective transport of substances across epithelial tissues, including drugs, cosmetic substances, and chemicals. The ability of these substances to cross through tissue barriers affects their absorption into the bloodstream and ultimately their effectiveness. Therefore, the determination of their permeability on these type of tissue barriers represents a useful tool for pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries as well as for toxicological studies. In this regard, microfluidic devices and organ-on-chip technologies are becoming more important to generate reliable data. We have designed and performed an alternative new stratified epithelia-on-chip model that allows to correlate the Stokes radius and the diffusion of molecules and/or nanoformulations through the in vitro generated barrier and establish a system suitable for the analysis of diffusion through stratified epithelium. Thus, extrapolating from experimental data we can predict the Stokes radius for unknown fluorescent labelled particles within a molecular size range, such as gold nanoparticles.