Bioreactor for organoids
Scientists have grown a fragment of self-organizing brain tissue
Scientists from the USA and India have printed a bioreactor on a 3D printer, in which they have grown a tiny brain embryo - a fragment of self–organizing brain tissue. Scientists use such prototypes of various organs, known as organoids, to monitor the growth and development of cellular structures in real time. The results of the study are published in the journal Biomicrofluidics (Khan et al., A low-cost 3D printed microfluidic bioreactor and imaging chamber for live-organoid imaging).
To observe the growing organoids, laboratory cups with many holes placed in a tablet with a glass bottom are usually used. Such tablets are very expensive and compatible only with certain microscopes. In addition, they do not allow you to control the parameters of the nutrient medium in which the growing tissue is placed.
Researchers from The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras have proposed an alternative – a 3D-printed, inexpensive, reusable and easily adjustable platform. The material from which the platform is made is a biocompatible resin used in dental surgery, which hardens under the influence of ultraviolet light.
"Our development costs are significantly lower than those of traditional organoid cultivation products based on a Petri dish or spin bioreactor," the press release says. American Institute of Physics, the words of the first author of the article Ikram Khan (Ikram Khan). "In addition, the chip can be washed with distilled water, dried, autoclaved and reused."
The design includes wells in which live cells were placed after sterilization, and microfluidic channels connected to the wells through which the nutrient medium and drugs are delivered. The nutrient supply and temperature maintenance system is fully automated. From above, the wells are covered with a slide, through which scientists observe the growth of tissues.
To test their device, the authors grew a small amount of self-organizing brain tissue from human cells. They observed the growing organoids of the brain under a microscope for seven days. During this time, a cavity, or ventricle, was formed in a small area of brain tissue, surrounded by a self-organizing structure resembling a developing neocortex.
At the same time, the percentage of cells killed in a week was lower than in conventional cultivation devices. The authors believe that this was achieved through the use of microfluidics technology.
"One of the advantages of our microfluidic device is that it provides constant perfusion of the culture chamber, which more accurately mimics the natural physiological perfusion of tissue than a conventional installation, and thus reduces cell death in the organoid nucleus," explains Khan.
The researchers hope to increase the capacity of their device in the future by adding additional wells, and also plan to integrate additional monitoring and analytics tools into the design.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru