Cardiogram "hearts on a chip"
The world's first "heart on a chip" with built-in sensors
Andrey Panov, XX2 century
Researchers from Harvard University have created the first "organ on a chip" with integrated sensors by printing it entirely on a 3D printer. A fully automated printing procedure opens up the possibility of producing a "heart on a chip" in a short time and in various form factors, which will make it easier for researchers to conduct long-term and short-term studies and obtain various necessary data. The work was published in the journal Nature Materials (Lind et al., Instrumented cardiac microphysiological devices via multimaterial three-dimensional printing).
"Organs on chips" are microphysiological systems that, according to a number of their properties and characteristics, can correspond to certain tissues and cells, including those affected by the disease. According to the lead author of the study, Johan Ulrik Lind, this new method not only allows you to easily change and customize the design of these devices, but also greatly simplifies data acquisition.
"Organs on a chip" mimic the structure and functions of natural tissues and are a promising alternative to animal testing and microphysiological structures have already been developed that mimic the work of the lungs, heart, tongue and intestines. However, there are also problems: the production and receipt of data from "organs on a chip" is a very expensive and time-consuming process. At the moment, such devices are produced in clean rooms using a complex multi-stage lithographic process, and obtaining data from them requires microscopic studies and high-speed video recording.
The co-author of the work Travis Busbee (Travis Busbee) says the following about this: "The new approach solves both of these problems through "digital production". By developing appropriate new inks for multimaterial 3D printers, we can automate the production process along with the complication of the manufactured devices themselves."
The common chip contains several "wells-cells", each of which contains a separate "organ" with integrated sensors, which allows researchers to study many samples of cardiac tissue at a time. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed device, the scientists printed matrices of eight "hearts" on each and conducted indicative studies of temporary changes in cardiac tissue in a state of contractile stress and drug tests on them.
Video from Harvard University press release 3D-printed heart-on-a-chip with integrated sensors – VM
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25.10.2016