Heart-On-A-Chip

Microfluidic heart-on-a-chip is a technology to simulate the human cardiovascular system in vitro, using microfluidic chip technology, biomaterials, cell culture, and imaging technology to construct a miniature cardiovascular system with physiological structure and function. This technique can simulate the physiological processes of the human cardiovascular system, such as cardiac contraction, vascular resistance, and pressure changes.

Experimental Methods of Heart-on-Chips

• Design and Fabrication of Chips

Firstly, it is necessary to design the structure and channel layout of the chip according to experimental needs, and select appropriate materials to prepare the chip. It is usually prepared using microfluidic chip fabrication techniques, including methods such as soft lithography, photolithography, and electron beam etching.

• Cell Culture and Chip Assembly

Cells are cultured on the chip, including cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and smooth muscle cells. The cultured cells are assembled on the chip according to the designed channel layout, and the cell culture environment is established.

• Experimental Operation

Use equipment such as pumps and thermostats to control fluid flow and temperature changes, simulating physiological processes in the human cardiovascular system, such as heart contraction, vascular resistance, and pressure changes. Data can be recorded and analyzed through real-time monitoring of physiological parameters and cell reaction processes within the chip.

• Result Analysis

Analyzing and comparing experimental results to evaluate the effects of new drugs, determine the mechanism of disease occurrence, and develop new treatments. Imaging techniques, such as fluorescence microscopy, confocal microscopy, etc., can be used to observe changes in cells and tissues inside the chip.

Applications of Heart-on-Chips

• Drug Screening

Heart-on-a-chip takes cardiac tissue engineering to a whole new level. This highly simulated in vitro cultured organ cell formed by microfluidic technology exhibits similar stretching ability, adhesion, and proliferation ability to normal cells. On the one hand, because it is closer to the real in vivo environment, and also has the advantages of strong controllability and short cycle, it has great application prospects in the development of new drugs.

• Building Disease Models

Based on the heart-on-a-chip, it is also possible to analyze the electrophysiology and expression of biomarkers of cultured cardiomyocytes, and construct various disease models. For example, for patients with diseases such as hereditary ion channelopathies, reprogramming their fibroblasts into cardiomyocytes and culturing them in a microfluidic device can construct a patient-specific heart-on-a-chip for morphological and electrophysiological analysis at the tissue level.

• Construction of Myocardial Infarction models

The perfusion of cardiac microarray can be accurately regulated by serum-free medium and ordinary medium, which can simulate the low perfusion state during myocardial infarction. Thus the changes of hemodynamics, cell viability, mitochondria, and apoptosis markers during hypoxic myocardial injury were simulated. At this point, it can be observed that myocardial cells are spatially separated from each other, actin filaments decompose, and cell volume gradually decreases, and the degree of these changes is positively correlated with the degree of hypoxia. At the same time, the extracellular environment of the myocardium under physiological and pathological conditions can also be regulated and measured on the chip, thereby achieving an all-round simulation of myocardial infarction and serving as the basis for drug evaluation.

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Reference

• Cho, K.W.; et al. Sensors in heart-on-a-chip: A review on recent progress. Talanta. 2020 Nov 1;219:121269.

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