Advances in organoid-on-a-chip for recapitulation of human physiological events

Abstract

The transition to 3D cell culture has garnered attention because it offers accurate information for the development of new drugs, drug disease modeling, cancer treatment, and personalized medicine research, which is important for providing human-like physiological environment-mimicked in vivo models by replacing conventional cell culture systems. In particular, organoids form complex structures of various organs derived from stem cells that involve the convergence of diverse heterogeneous technologies to imitate a more accurate internal body environment. In this review, we discuss trends in organoid-on-a-chip, which can precisely mimic organ-specific functions and disease mechanisms by providing real-time controllable dynamic culture environments by combining organoid culture and microfluidic systems. Organoid-on-a-chip is an innovative platform that precisely recapitulate the physiological environments of the human body by integrating the complex structure of 3D organoids with microfluidic system. The culture of organoids within the microfluidic platform is demonstrated by evaluating key parameters such as cell composition, extracellular matrix (ECM), and synthetic environmental factors. The organoid-on-a-chip further implements the structural and functional features of different organs including static and dynamic models, which provide physiological microenvironments to address the ethical concerns of in vivo experiments. In particular, recent advances in multi organoid-on-a-chip are introduced to analyze metabolism and toxicity of drugs through organ to organ interconnections, elucidating the potential to achieve human-on-a-chip technologies. Therefore, organoid-on-a-chip platforms are expected to revolutionize biomedical research and personalized medicine by accurately reproducing the human environment in vitro.