Heart-on-Chip for Combined Cellular Dynamics Measurements and Computational Modeling Towards Clinical Applications

Towards a New 3Rs Era in the construction of 3D cell culture models simulating tumor microenvironment

Three-dimensional cell culture technology (3DCC) sits between two-dimensional cell culture (2DCC) and animal models and is widely used in oncology research. Compared to 2DCC, 3DCC allows cells to grow in a three-dimensional space, better simulating the in vivo growth environment of tumors, including hypoxia, nutrient concentration gradients, micro angiogenesis mimicism, and the interaction between tumor cells and the tumor microenvironment matrix. 3DCC has unparalleled advantages when compared to animal models, being more controllable, operable, and convenient. This review summarizes the comparison between 2DCC and 3DCC, as well as recent advances in different methods to obtain 3D models and their respective advantages and disadvantages.

Activation and Switching of Supramolecular Chemical Signals in Multi-Output Microfluidic Devices

In this study, we report on the developing of a continuous microfluidic reaction device that allows selective activation of polyelectrolyte-surfactant chemical signals in microflows and switches them between multiple outputs. A numerical model was developed for convection-diffusion reaction processes in reactive polymer-colloid microfluidic flows. Matlab scripts and scaling laws were developed for this model to predict reaction initiation and completion conditions in microfluidic devices and the location of the reaction front. The model allows the optimization of microfluidic device geometry and the setting of operation modes that provide release of the reaction product through specific outputs. Representing a chemical signal, polyelectrolyte-surfactant reaction products create various logic gate states at microfluidic chip outputs. Such systems may have potential as biochemical signal transmitters in organ-on-chip applications or chemical logic gates in cascaded microfluidic devices.

Advanced Drug Delivery Micro- and Nanosystems for Cardiovascular Diseases

Advanced drug delivery micro- and nanosystems have been widely explored due to their appealing specificity/selectivity, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and low toxicity. They can be applied for the targeted delivery of pharmaceuticals, with the benefits of good biocompatibility/stability, non-immunogenicity, large surface area, high drug loading capacity, and low leakage of drugs. Cardiovascular diseases, as one of the primary mortalities cause worldwide with significant impacts on the quality of patients’ life, comprise a variety of heart and circulatory system pathologies, such as peripheral vascular diseases, myocardial infarction, heart failure, and coronary artery diseases. Designing novel micro- and nanosystems with suitable targeting properties and smart release behaviors can help circumvent crucial challenges of the tolerability, low stability, high toxicity, and possible side- and off-target effects of conventional drug delivery routes. To overcome different challenging issues, namely physiological barriers, low efficiency of drugs, and possible adverse side effects, various biomaterials-mediated drug delivery systems have been formulated with reduced toxicity, improved pharmacokinetics, high bioavailability, sustained release behavior, and enhanced therapeutic efficacy for targeted therapy of cardiovascular diseases. Despite the existing drug delivery systems encompassing a variety of biomaterials for treating cardiovascular diseases, the number of formulations currently approved for clinical use is limited due to the regulatory and experimental obstacles. Herein, the most recent advancements in drug delivery micro- and nanosystems designed from different biomaterials for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases are deliberated, with a focus on the important challenges and future perspectives.