Abstract

Prototyping of Microphysiologic Cell Culture Systems That Mimic Key Aspects of the Human Body

Mandy Esch, Project Leader, NIST

Single and multi-organ microphysiologic systems (MPS) can be used to detect secondary drug toxicities stemming from drug metabolites. Here we describe how to design and prototype such systems to replicate key aspects of the human body that influence the concentration of drug metabolites within the system. Using 3D printing we have prototyped and tested several microfluidic MPS that can recirculate near-physiological amounts of cell culture medium. For example, the body cube represents a part of the human body that is scaled down by a factor of 73000. It can recirculate 80 µL of medium (the equivalent of 5L to 6L of blood scaled down by a factor of 73000). We have also developed several devices that recirculate small amounts of cell culture medium in a way that makes it feasible to culture mechanosensitive cells such as HUVEC or GI tract epithelial cells within the system. The talk given here is a summary of our efforts in this area.