Abstract

Micro-physiological Models of Human Epithelial Barriers

Qasem Ramadan, Scientist , IME

Epithelial barriers, such as the intestinal and epidermal barriers, play key roles in the adsorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of nutrients, xenobiotics and serving as tight gatekeepers by controlling the translocation of potentially harmful substances. The immune cell underlying the epithelial barriers play a dual role in avoiding potentially harmful reactivity to xenobiotics and responding to any possible threats from pathogens. In light of the importance of these biological barriers in health and disease, we have developed an integrated microfluidic system for constructing biologically active in vitro models of the intestinal and epidermal barriers which are interfaced with basolaterally co-cultured immune cells. The microfluidic system integrates an in vitro cellular system within a perfusion based microfluidic device which aims at mimicking the molecules transport through the human epithelium and subsequent activation of the underlined immune cells. In addition, the microfluidic setup allows monitoring the immune status of the system by measuring the induced pro-inflammatory cytokines [1, 2], therefore, provides a reliable tool for investigating the importance of the epithelial layers as a protection barrier to hazards. The microfluidic system has the potential to host various in vitro models of the other biological barriers such as airways, placental and blood-brain barrier.