Organ on a chip: a microfluidic system for medicinal products research

Bringing new medicinal products to the domestic pharmaceutical market is a laborious and costly process. Registered medicines have different effect on patients, for example, they can cause side effects or allergic reactions leading to death. Animal preclinical studies are also costly, time consuming, and their physiology does not fully match human physiology. In addition, there is the problem of selecting medicines in hospitals and clinics, taking into account the characteristics of the patient's organism. That is why technology for the selection of an individual course of medical therapy is highly in demand. Organ-on-a-chip microfluidic systems could make the process of drug research and selection less costly and safer and more personalized.

The scientific group of the Institute of Biomedical Systems of MIET has developed a microfluidic system to dose microflows of medicinal products to live cells of various human organs placed on it. The innovation of the development lies in the developed polymer material based on carbon nanotubes. This material provides a nonlinear interaction with laser radiation, which makes it possible to create microchannels with specified geometric parameters. This technology resulted in less duration and reduced cost of the research, as well as the lower fluid flow rate in comparison with the analogues.

The microfluidic system consists of a transparent composite polymer wafer with a system of microchannels created by laser radiation, a micropump that provides fluid flow through the channel, an AC source with electrodes to control the micropump, and a microscope to monitor the drug delivery process. The general scheme for the manufacture of microfluidic channels for dosing drugs includes: preparation of the substrate, formation of a system of channels and their sealing, and installation of a micropump.

The substrate is a wafer made of a polymer composite material. To create this material, polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was chosen as the basis for the microfluidic system. Particular attention is paid to the parameters of laser radiation, which is used to form microchannels. According to the results of mathematical modeling scientists selected power, wavelength and pulse repetition rate. The use of laser radiation of sufficient power leads to the formation of holes. By setting the desired beam trajectory, it is possible to form microchannels of various lengths and shapes.

Now let us describe the functioning of the microfluidic system. First, we place a wafer with microchannels, a connected micropump and applied cells of a certain organ in an incubator where cells are cultivated. After that, we seal the wafer and place it on the microscope stage to monitor the dosing process, and using a dispenser add the medicinal product to the microchannel. Then we put on the micropump connected to the AC source, and move the liquid through the channel to the area of cell cultivation.

Nowadays, there are no domestic analogues of such a microfluidic system on the domestic market of medical devices. The competitiveness of products is high due to the low cost compared to the closest analogues; also the system allows to carry out the fastest analysis of the interaction of human cells with drugs in comparison with analogues. Thus, the introduction of the developed microfluidic system (wafers with microchannels) to the market of medical products will make it possible to replace foreign analogues.