Recent trends of biomaterials and biosensors for organ-on-chip platforms

Abstract

Organ-on-chip (OoC) platforms are a new class of advanced microfluidic devices that have been attracting significant attention for drug development since they can allow a faster and more patient specific evaluation of the effects of drugs due to the mimicking of organ human models. As most microfluidic devices, the great majority of the OoC is made from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), due to the easiness to handle and due to its physicochemical properties. Nevertheless, PDMS can leach uncrosslinked oligomer and absorb small hydrophobic molecules, which makes it less suitable for cell culture. In this work, we review different kinds of materials that are used together with, or in replacement, of PDMS to manufacture the OoC platforms. Several studies have replicated differentiated structures and their key physiological functions, such as muscle contraction, skin elasticity and deformability, gas exchange in alveolar sacs, electrical stimulation or even to monitor the microenvironment, inside the chip. Therefore, in this Review, recent advances on OoC platforms, including fabrication and miniaturization of biosensors for an end-use perspective are revised.