Mini Synthetic Organism Instead Of Test Animals
No one wishes to dispense with the blessings of modern medicine, which took away the dread of many diseases. The flipside of the coin: To ensure that effective and safe medications are available, experiments on animals in research laboratories are indispensable. Throughout the world, researchers are working on alternatives to animal experiments.
Chip simulates human circulatory system
Researchers at the Dresden-based institute, working jointly with the Institute for Biotechnology at the Technical University (TU) of Berlin, engineered a new kind of solution that could render the use of animal-based experiments superfluous in medical research: a multi-organ chip that faithfully replicates complex metabolic processes in the human body with startling accuracy.
The concept of combining various cell samples with fluid channels has been around for a long while. This new system, however, has two distinct advantages over previous approaches: Thanks to the expertise of the engineers at IWS, the microfluidic system is extremely miniaturized. The pump is capable of channeling the tiniest flow rates of less than 0.5 microliters (µl/s) per second through the channels. This means the relationship between cell sample and liquid media is authentic,” Sonntag explains.
In order to test the effect of a substance, the scientists initially load various cell samples onto the chip. Then the active ingredient to be tested is added via the medium for the cell sample of that organ at which the substance would be introduced into the blood stream in the real human body. They include the cells of the intestinal lining, for instance. The same metabolic responses are then processed on the chip just like in the human organism.
For some companies, such as those in the cosmetics industry, the artificial organism is already in use. In addition to research on active ingredients, there is also another potential application. “We know today that certain kidney cells, the endothelial cells, play a key role in almost every kidney disease. With the in vitro tests to date, there was always the problem that the endothelial cells worked only under current. Here, our multi-organ chip could offer a test environment that would allow you to observe how cells regenerate following an injury,” says Sonntag.
As alternatives to animal testing, the artificial mini-organism was recently awarded the animal safety research prize in 2014.
Contacts and sources:
Ralf Jäckel
Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS
Source: http://www.ineffableisland.com/2015/02/mini-synthetic-organism-instead-of-test.html
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