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Organoid and Organ-on-a-Chip Systems: New Paradigms for Modeling Neurological and Gastrointestinal Disease

  • Artificial Tissues (A Atala and JG Hunsberger, Section Editors)
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Abstract

Purpose of Review

The modeling of biological processes in vitro provides an important tool to better understand mechanisms of development and disease, allowing for the rapid testing of therapeutics. However, a critical constraint in traditional monolayer culture systems is the absence of the multicellularity, spatial organization, and overall microenvironment present in vivo. This limitation has resulted in numerous therapeutics showing efficacy in vitro, but failing in patient trials. In this review, we discuss several organoid and “organ-on-a-chip” systems with particular regard to the modeling of neurological diseases and gastrointestinal disorders.

Recent Findings

Recently, the in vitro generation of multicellular organ-like structures, coined organoids, has allowed the modeling of human development, tissue architecture, and disease with human-specific pathophysiology. Additionally, microfluidic “organ-on-a-chip” technologies add another level of physiological mimicry by allowing biological mediums to be shuttled through 3D cultures.

Summary

Organoids and organ chips are rapidly evolving in vitro platforms which hold great promise for the modeling of development and disease.

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Acknowledgments

We thank D. Saxon for critical review of the manuscript and acknowledge support from the Board of Governors RMI of Cedars-Sinai. Joshua J. Breunig, PhD, was supported by a Research Scholar Grant, RSG-16-217-01-TBG, from the American Cancer Society and by NIH grant R33 CA202900.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Blvd, AHSP A8109, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA

    Aslam Abbasi Akhtar, Samuel Sances, Robert Barrett & Joshua J. Breunig

  2. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA

    Aslam Abbasi Akhtar, Samuel Sances & Joshua J. Breunig

  3. F. Widjaja Foundation Inflammatory Bowel and Immunobiology Research Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA

    Robert Barrett

  4. Samuel Oschin Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, 90048, USA

    Joshua J. Breunig

  5. Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    Joshua J. Breunig

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  1. Aslam Abbasi Akhtar
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  2. Samuel Sances
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Correspondence to Joshua J. Breunig.

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Conflict of Interest

Aslam Abbasi Akhtar and Joshua J. Breunig declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Samuel Sances has a pending patent PCT/US16/57724 on Blood Brain Barrier on Chip titled “Microfluidic Model of the Blood Brain Barrier.”

Robert Barrett has a pending patent PCT/US2017/016098 titled “Systems And Methods For Growth Of Intestinal Cells In Microfluidic Devices.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

All reported studies/experiments with human or animal subjects performed by the authors have been previously published and complied with all applicable ethical standards (including the Helsinki Declaration and its amendments, institutional/national research committee standards, and international/national/institutional guidelines).

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Artificial Tissues

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Akhtar, A.A., Sances, S., Barrett, R. et al. Organoid and Organ-on-a-Chip Systems: New Paradigms for Modeling Neurological and Gastrointestinal Disease. Curr Stem Cell Rep 3, 98–111 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40778-017-0080-x

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