CSB #5: Micro-organs

"Organ on a chip"

Last year, Harvard University bioengineers created a apparatus that imitated a human lung, consisting of a membrane enveloped by lung tissues. The same year, scientists claimed that they had built a mini replica of the liver. Microchip technology is very close to the prospect of housing cells that can imitate the functions of organs and systems. Chips are still in elementary stages, but scientists have the ideal structure of the device in mind. The device, dubbed "organ on a chip" would consist of glass slides covered with human cells that would be able to mimic specific tissues in the human body.

The chip can leave a strong impact on our present medical society. They are meant to test various concepts from mutations to virus life cycles. Scientists could predict drug response within a particular population by testing the drug on a chip with genetically mutated cells. Other scientists have used past prototypes to observe the life cycle of the virus hepatitis C instead of keeping it in cultures. Chips can even test toxicity levels of devices used to spread drugs around the body. Overall, the chip will help pharmaceutical establishments develop drugs faster. Another advantage to the "organ on a chip" is its ability to replace animal testing. Animal testing is sometimes inaccurate, expensive, and against our morals and ethics. The chip can prevent these problems from arising.

However, these chips are not a hundred percent perfect. Using chips can lead to problems in observing the response and function to the entire human system. For example, tests on the lung will only obtain results on lung response and will lack data on the response of the arteries, heart, etc. This is one thing that animal testing allows us to do.

I believe that the organ on a chip will allow us to bring drugs into the market more efficiently and can prevent animal testing. However, these chips can be expensive to produce and may take a long time to manufacture. I believe the problem addressed in the previous paragraph can be solved by incorporating different tissues onto one slide. For example, when testing a drug on an organ, we can observe the effect on the brain by placing nerve cells and brain tissue on the slide along with the organ.

Citations:
Moyer, Melinda Wenner. "Organs-on-a-Chip for Faster Drug Development."
     Scientific American 25 Feb. 2011: n. pag. Scientific American. Web. 7
     Mar. 2011. <http://www.scientificamerican.com/
     article.cfm?id=organs-on-a-chip>.
Picture URL:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/media/inline/organs-on-a-chip_1.jpg