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Culture and Co-culture of Cells for Multi-organ on a Chip

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Microfluidics and Multi Organs on Chip

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Abstract

The pre-clinical trials in the drug discovery timeline involve an immense amount of time and money to elucidate the drug responses precisely. Cell culture techniques have been utilized for decades to understand the in vivo responses and aided in many research areas, including tissue engineering, biomedical engineering and the pharmaceutical industry. Microfluidic cell culture provides a novel cell culture technique that allows the control of the local environment using microscale dimensions and mimic the human circulatory system. Organ-on-a-chip technology provides a promising alternative for animal models and can better recapitulate the physiological environment with the help of human-derived cell sources. The 3D cell culture provides more physiologically relevant responses than the 2D. The cells in a 3D cell culture are surrounded by the extracellular matrix (ECM) that could enhance the growth and physiological responses. Many significant advances in organ-on-a-chip development integrated with microfluidics have opened the gateway for integrated cell culture techniques and multi-organ cell cultures. The co-culture of cells with the support of various membranes and scaffolds also provides a futuristic application in drug development and disease modelling. The remarkable properties of hydrogels provide more reliable cell culture support and better experimental results. This chapter focuses on the importance of co-culture systems and multi-organ on a chip for various biomedical applications.

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Acknowledgements

Authors wish to express their thanks to the Director and Head, Biomedical Technology Wing, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (Government of India), Trivandrum, Kerala, India for their support and providing the infrastructure to carry out this work. AA, JX, AV, PVM thank the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi for financial support (DST/TDT/DDP- 04/2018(G)).

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  1. Toxicology Division, Biomedical Technical Wing, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (Government of India), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    A. Arathi, X. Joseph, K. B. Megha, V. Akhil & P. V. Mohanan

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  1. A. Arathi
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  2. X. Joseph
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  3. K. B. Megha
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  4. V. Akhil
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  5. P. V. Mohanan
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Correspondence to P. V. Mohanan .

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  1. Toxicology Division, Biomedical Technical Wing, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (Government of India), Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    P. V. Mohanan

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Arathi, A., Joseph, X., Megha, K.B., Akhil, V., Mohanan, P.V. (2022). Culture and Co-culture of Cells for Multi-organ on a Chip. In: Mohanan, P.V. (eds) Microfluidics and Multi Organs on Chip . Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1379-2_9

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