A new body-on-a-chip system could provide a more holistic view of drug effects than other devices of its kind.
Unlike traditional organ-on-a-chip devices that simulate a single organ (SN: 3/17/18, p. 13), the new setup contains five chambers to house different types of cells, connected by channels that circulate a nutrient solution to mimic blood flow. This is the first organ-on-a-chip scheme to examine how a drug and its chemical by-products affect target cells and other tissue at the same time, researchers report online June 19 in Science Translational Medicine.
“Until now, to be able to [measure] efficacy and toxicity in the same system, you had to go into an animal,” says James Hickman, a bioengineer at the biotech firm Hesperos, Inc., in Orlando, Fla., which developed the chip. A body-on-a-chip system with human cells could gauge drug effects more accurately, Hickman says. Using a patients own cells in the device may also allow scientists to test different drugs or drug combinations to determine the best treatment for that specific person.
Hickman and colleagues tested their body-on-a-chip by measuring the effects of different drugs on caRead More – Source
[contf]
[contfnew]
science news
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
