Development of an organ on a chip that mimics the ocular fundus

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Developing new three-dimensional (3D) in vitro cell culture models closely mimicking human tissues and organs (referred to as "organ on a chip") has recently attracted great attention for disease modeling and drug discovery. In particular, there have been many attempts to mimic the digestive and respiratory systems such as the lung, liver and intestine. To date, however, there are few reported on on-chip culture models of sensory organs such as the eye. Thus, this research aims to develop a cell-based retinal model within a microfluidic device and to examine cellular responses to controlled environments. The characterization of neural supporting cells including retinal pigment epithelial cells cultured in the device was performed and found to exhibit properties found in native tissues. Application of stimuli that induce pathological changes in cultured cells would extend the system to a disease model for new therapy and drug discovery.