1
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Mahajan G, Doherty E, To T, Sutherland A, Grant J, Junaid A, Gulati A, LoGrande N, Izadifar Z, Timilsina SS, Horváth V, Plebani R, France M, Hood-Pishchany I, Rakoff-Nahoum S, Kwon DS, Goyal G, Prantil-Baun R, Ravel J, Ingber DE. Vaginal microbiome-host interactions modeled in a human vagina-on-a-chip. Microbiome 2022; 10:201. [PMID: 36434666 PMCID: PMC9701078 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-022-01400-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2022] [Accepted: 10/24/2022] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A dominance of non-iners Lactobacillus species in the vaginal microbiome is optimal and strongly associated with gynecological and obstetric health, while the presence of diverse obligate or facultative anaerobic bacteria and a paucity in Lactobacillus species, similar to communities found in bacterial vaginosis (BV), is considered non-optimal and associated with adverse health outcomes. Various therapeutic strategies are being explored to modulate the composition of the vaginal microbiome; however, there is no human model that faithfully reproduces the vaginal epithelial microenvironment for preclinical validation of potential therapeutics or testing hypotheses about vaginal epithelium-microbiome interactions. RESULTS Here, we describe an organ-on-a-chip (organ chip) microfluidic culture model of the human vaginal mucosa (vagina chip) that is lined by hormone-sensitive, primary vaginal epithelium interfaced with underlying stromal fibroblasts, which sustains a low physiological oxygen concentration in the epithelial lumen. We show that the Vagina Chip can be used to assess colonization by optimal L. crispatus consortia as well as non-optimal Gardnerella vaginalis-containing consortia, and to measure associated host innate immune responses. Co-culture and growth of the L. crispatus consortia on-chip was accompanied by maintenance of epithelial cell viability, accumulation of D- and L-lactic acid, maintenance of a physiologically relevant low pH, and down regulation of proinflammatory cytokines. In contrast, co-culture of G. vaginalis-containing consortia in the vagina chip resulted in epithelial cell injury, a rise in pH, and upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines. CONCLUSION This study demonstrates the potential of applying human organ chip technology to create a preclinical model of the human vaginal mucosa that can be used to better understand interactions between the vaginal microbiome and host tissues, as well as to evaluate the safety and efficacy of live biotherapeutics products. Video Abstract.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gautam Mahajan
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Present address: Emulate, Inc, 27 Drydock Ave, Boston, MA, 02210, USA
| | - Erin Doherty
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Tania To
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Arlene Sutherland
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Jennifer Grant
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Abidemi Junaid
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Aakanksha Gulati
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Nina LoGrande
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Zohreh Izadifar
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Sanjay Sharma Timilsina
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Viktor Horváth
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Roberto Plebani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Present address: Center on Advanced Studies and Technology, Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, G. d'Annunzio, University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Michael France
- Institute for Genome Sciences and Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Indriati Hood-Pishchany
- Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA
| | - Seth Rakoff-Nahoum
- Division of Infectious Diseases and Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115, USA
| | - Douglas S Kwon
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Girija Goyal
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Jacques Ravel
- Institute for Genome Sciences and Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
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2
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Si L, Bai H, Oh CY, Jiang A, Hong F, Zhang T, Ye Y, Jordan TX, Logue J, McGrath M, Belgur C, Calderon K, Nurani A, Cao W, Carlson KE, Prantil-Baun R, Gygi SP, Yang D, Jonsson CB, tenOever BR, Frieman M, Ingber DE. Self-assembling short immunostimulatory duplex RNAs with broad-spectrum antiviral activity. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids 2022; 29:923-940. [PMID: 36032397 PMCID: PMC9398551 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2022.08.031] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlights the need for broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics. Here we describe a new class of self-assembling immunostimulatory short duplex RNAs that potently induce production of type I and type III interferon (IFN-I and IFN-III). These RNAs require a minimum of 20 base pairs, lack any sequence or structural characteristics of known immunostimulatory RNAs, and instead require a unique sequence motif (sense strand, 5'-C; antisense strand, 3'-GGG) that mediates end-to-end dimer self-assembly. The presence of terminal hydroxyl or monophosphate groups, blunt or overhanging ends, or terminal RNA or DNA bases did not affect their ability to induce IFN. Unlike previously described immunostimulatory small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), their activity is independent of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 7/8, but requires the RIG-I/IRF3 pathway that induces a more restricted antiviral response with a lower proinflammatory signature compared with immunostimulant poly(I:C). Immune stimulation mediated by these duplex RNAs results in broad-spectrum inhibition of infections by many respiratory viruses with pandemic potential, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2, SARS-CoV, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), human coronavirus (HCoV)-NL63, and influenza A virus in cell lines, human lung chips that mimic organ-level lung pathophysiology, and a mouse SARS-CoV-2 infection model. These short double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) can be manufactured easily, and thus potentially could be harnessed to produce broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Longlong Si
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Haiqing Bai
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Crystal Yuri Oh
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Amanda Jiang
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Fan Hong
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Tian Zhang
- Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Yongxin Ye
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02155, USA
| | - Tristan X. Jordan
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - James Logue
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Marisa McGrath
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Chaitra Belgur
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Karina Calderon
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Atiq Nurani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Wuji Cao
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Kenneth E. Carlson
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Steven P. Gygi
- Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Dong Yang
- Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Colleen B. Jonsson
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Biochemistry, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Benjamin R. tenOever
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
| | - Matthew Frieman
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Donald E. Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA,Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA,Corresponding author Donald E. Ingber, MD, PhD, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, CLSB5, 3 Blackfan Circle, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
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3
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Plebani R, Potla R, Soong M, Bai H, Izadifar Z, Jiang A, Travis RN, Belgur C, Dinis A, Cartwright MJ, Prantil-Baun R, Jolly P, Gilpin SE, Romano M, Ingber DE. Modeling pulmonary cystic fibrosis in a human lung airway-on-a-chip. J Cyst Fibros 2022; 21:606-615. [PMID: 34799298 DOI: 10.1101/2021.07.15.21260407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Revised: 09/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease caused by mutations in the gene encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), which results in impaired airway mucociliary clearance, inflammation, infection, and respiratory insufficiency. The development of new therapeutics for CF are limited by the lack of reliable preclinical models that recapitulate the structural, immunological, and bioelectrical features of human CF lungs. METHODS We leveraged organ-on-a-chip technology to develop a microfluidic device lined by primary human CF bronchial epithelial cells grown under an air-liquid interface and interfaced with pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (CF Airway Chip) exposed to fluid flow. The responses of CF and healthy Airway Chips were analyzed in the presence or absence of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) and the bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. RESULTS The CF Airway Chip faithfully recapitulated many features of the human CF airways, including enhanced mucus accumulation, increased cilia density, and a higher ciliary beating frequency compared to chips lined by healthy bronchial epithelial cells. The CF chips also secreted higher levels of IL-8, which was accompanied by enhanced PMN adhesion to the endothelium and transmigration into the airway compartment. In addition, CF Airway Chips provided a more favorable environment for Pseudomonas aeruginosa growth, which resulted in enhanced secretion of inflammatory cytokines and recruitment of PMNs to the airway. CONCLUSIONS The human CF Airway Chip may provide a valuable preclinical tool for pathophysiology studies as well as for drug testing and personalized medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Plebani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States; Center on Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Ratnakar Potla
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States; Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Mercy Soong
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Haiqing Bai
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Zohreh Izadifar
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Amanda Jiang
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Renee N Travis
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Chaitra Belgur
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Alexandre Dinis
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Mark J Cartwright
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Pawan Jolly
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Sarah E Gilpin
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Mario Romano
- Center on Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States; Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA, United States.
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4
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Bein A, Fadel CW, Swenor B, Cao W, Powers RK, Camacho DM, Naziripour A, Parsons A, LoGrande N, Sharma S, Kim S, Jalili-Firoozinezhad S, Grant J, Breault DT, Iqbal J, Ali A, Denson LA, Moore SR, Prantil-Baun R, Goyal G, Ingber DE. Nutritional deficiency in an intestine-on-a-chip recapitulates injury hallmarks associated with environmental enteric dysfunction. Nat Biomed Eng 2022; 6:1236-1247. [PMID: 35739419 DOI: 10.1038/s41551-022-00899-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED)-a chronic inflammatory condition of the intestine-is characterized by villus blunting, compromised intestinal barrier function and reduced nutrient absorption. Here we show that essential genotypic and phenotypic features of EED-associated intestinal injury can be reconstituted in a human intestine-on-a-chip lined by organoid-derived intestinal epithelial cells from patients with EED and cultured in nutrient-deficient medium lacking niacinamide and tryptophan. Exposure of the organ chip to such nutritional deficiencies resulted in congruent changes in six of the top ten upregulated genes that were comparable to changes seen in samples from patients with EED. Chips lined with healthy epithelium or with EED epithelium exposed to nutritional deficiencies resulted in severe villus blunting and barrier dysfunction, and in the impairment of fatty acid uptake and amino acid transport; and the chips with EED epithelium exhibited heightened secretion of inflammatory cytokines. The organ-chip model of EED-associated intestinal injury may facilitate the analysis of the molecular, genetic and nutritional bases of the disease and the testing of candidate therapeutics for it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amir Bein
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Quris Technologies, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Cicely W Fadel
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Division of Neonatology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ben Swenor
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Wuji Cao
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Rani K Powers
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Pluto Biosciences, Inc., Golden, CO, USA
| | - Diogo M Camacho
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Rheos Medicines, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Arash Naziripour
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Andrew Parsons
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Nina LoGrande
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sanjay Sharma
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Seongmin Kim
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sasan Jalili-Firoozinezhad
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Bioengineering and iBB - Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Jennifer Grant
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - David T Breault
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.,Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.,Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Junaid Iqbal
- Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
| | - Asad Ali
- Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, The Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
| | - Lee A Denson
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.,Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA
| | - Sean R Moore
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Girija Goyal
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA. .,Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. .,Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
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5
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Grant J, Lee E, Almeida M, Kim S, LoGrande N, Goyal G, Sesay AM, Breault DT, Prantil-Baun R, Ingber DE. Establishment of physiologically relevant oxygen gradients in microfluidic organ chips. Lab Chip 2022; 22:1584-1593. [PMID: 35274118 PMCID: PMC9088163 DOI: 10.1039/d2lc00069e] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
In vitro models of human organs must accurately reconstitute oxygen concentrations and gradients that are observed in vivo to mimic gene expression, metabolism, and host-microbiome interactions. Here we describe a simple strategy to achieve physiologically relevant oxygen tension in a two-channel human small intestine-on-a-chip (Intestine Chip) lined with primary human duodenal epithelium and intestinal microvascular endothelium in parallel channels separated by a porous membrane while both channels are perfused with oxygenated medium. This strategy was developed using computer simulations that predicted lowering the oxygen permeability of poly-dimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chips in specified locations using a gas impermeable film will allow the cells to naturally decrease the oxygen concentration through aerobic respiration and reach steady-state oxygen levels <36 mm Hg (<5%) within the epithelial lumen. The approach was experimentally confirmed using chips with embedded oxygen sensors that maintained this stable oxygen gradient. Furthermore, Intestine Chips cultured with this approach supported formation of a villus epithelium interfaced with a continuous endothelium and maintained intestinal barrier integrity for 72 h. This strategy recapitulates in vivo functionality in an efficient, inexpensive, and scalable format that improves the robustness and translatability of Organ Chip technology for studies on microbiome as well as oxygen sensitivity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Grant
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Elizabeth Lee
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Micaela Almeida
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Seongmin Kim
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Nina LoGrande
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Girija Goyal
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Adama Marie Sesay
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - David T Breault
- Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02139, USA
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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6
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Bai H, Si L, Jiang A, Belgur C, Zhai Y, Plebani R, Oh CY, Rodas M, Patil A, Nurani A, Gilpin SE, Powers RK, Goyal G, Prantil-Baun R, Ingber DE. Mechanical control of innate immune responses against viral infection revealed in a human lung alveolus chip. Nat Commun 2022; 13:1928. [PMID: 35396513 PMCID: PMC8993817 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29562-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2021] [Accepted: 03/23/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Mechanical breathing motions have a fundamental function in lung development and disease, but little is known about how they contribute to host innate immunity. Here we use a human lung alveolus chip that experiences cyclic breathing-like deformations to investigate whether physical forces influence innate immune responses to viral infection. Influenza H3N2 infection of mechanically active chips induces a cascade of host responses including increased lung permeability, apoptosis, cell regeneration, cytokines production, and recruitment of circulating immune cells. Comparison with static chips reveals that breathing motions suppress viral replication by activating protective innate immune responses in epithelial and endothelial cells, which are mediated in part through activation of the mechanosensitive ion channel TRPV4 and signaling via receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE). RAGE inhibitors suppress cytokines induction, while TRPV4 inhibition attenuates both inflammation and viral burden, in infected chips with breathing motions. Therefore, TRPV4 and RAGE may serve as new targets for therapeutic intervention in patients infected with influenza and other potential pandemic viruses that cause life-threatening lung inflammation. Mechanical forces in lungs facilitate breathing motions. Here the authors use a microfluidic human lung alveolus chip to study influenza infection and find that mechanical forces from active chips also induce innate inflammatory responses via, at least partially, signaling from TRPV4 and RAGE, thereby implicating them as potential therapeutic targets for lung inflammation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haiqing Bai
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Longlong Si
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Amanda Jiang
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.,Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Chaitra Belgur
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Yunhao Zhai
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Roberto Plebani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.,Center on Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, 66023, Italy
| | - Crystal Yuri Oh
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Melissa Rodas
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Aditya Patil
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Atiq Nurani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Sarah E Gilpin
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Rani K Powers
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Girija Goyal
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. .,Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. .,Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
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7
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Si L, Bai H, Oh CY, Zhang T, Hong F, Jiang A, Ye Y, Jordan TX, Logue J, McGrath M, Belgur C, Nurani A, Cao W, Prantil-Baun R, Gygi SP, Powers RK, Frieman M, tenOever BR, Ingber DE. Self-assembling short immunostimulatory duplex RNAs with broad spectrum antiviral activity. bioRxiv 2021:2021.11.19.469183. [PMID: 34845453 PMCID: PMC8629196 DOI: 10.1101/2021.11.19.469183] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The current COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics. Here we describe a new class of self-assembling immunostimulatory short duplex RNAs that potently induce production of type I and type III interferon (IFN-I and IFN-III), in a wide range of human cell types. These RNAs require a minimum of 20 base pairs, lack any sequence or structural characteristics of known immunostimulatory RNAs, and instead require a unique conserved sequence motif (sense strand: 5'-C, antisense strand: 3'-GGG) that mediates end-to-end dimer self-assembly of these RNAs by Hoogsteen G-G base-pairing. The presence of terminal hydroxyl or monophosphate groups, blunt or overhanging ends, or terminal RNA or DNA bases did not affect their ability to induce IFN. Unlike previously described immunostimulatory siRNAs, their activity is independent of TLR7/8, but requires the RIG-I/IRF3 pathway that induces a more restricted antiviral response with a lower proinflammatory signature compared with poly(I:C). Immune stimulation mediated by these duplex RNAs results in broad spectrum inhibition of infections by many respiratory viruses with pandemic potential, including SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and influenza A, as well as the common cold virus HCoV-NL63 in both cell lines and human Lung Chips that mimic organ-level lung pathophysiology. These short dsRNAs can be manufactured easily, and thus potentially could be harnessed to produce broad-spectrum antiviral therapeutics at low cost.
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Affiliation(s)
- Longlong Si
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Haiqing Bai
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Crystal Yuri Oh
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Tian Zhang
- Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Fan Hong
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Amanda Jiang
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Yongxin Ye
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02155, USA
| | - Tristan X. Jordan
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - James Logue
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Marisa McGrath
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Chaitra Belgur
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Atiq Nurani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Wuji Cao
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Steven P Gygi
- Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Rani K. Powers
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Matthew Frieman
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
| | - Benjamin R. tenOever
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Donald E. Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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8
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Plebani R, Potla R, Soong M, Bai H, Izadifar Z, Jiang A, Travis RN, Belgur C, Dinis A, Cartwright MJ, Prantil-Baun R, Jolly P, Gilpin SE, Romano M, Ingber DE. Modeling pulmonary cystic fibrosis in a human lung airway-on-a-chip: Cystic fibrosis airway chip. J Cyst Fibros 2021; 21:606-615. [PMID: 34799298 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcf.2021.10.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/09/2021] [Revised: 09/19/2021] [Accepted: 10/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease caused by mutations in the gene encoding the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), which results in impaired airway mucociliary clearance, inflammation, infection, and respiratory insufficiency. The development of new therapeutics for CF are limited by the lack of reliable preclinical models that recapitulate the structural, immunological, and bioelectrical features of human CF lungs. METHODS We leveraged organ-on-a-chip technology to develop a microfluidic device lined by primary human CF bronchial epithelial cells grown under an air-liquid interface and interfaced with pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (CF Airway Chip) exposed to fluid flow. The responses of CF and healthy Airway Chips were analyzed in the presence or absence of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) and the bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa. RESULTS The CF Airway Chip faithfully recapitulated many features of the human CF airways, including enhanced mucus accumulation, increased cilia density, and a higher ciliary beating frequency compared to chips lined by healthy bronchial epithelial cells. The CF chips also secreted higher levels of IL-8, which was accompanied by enhanced PMN adhesion to the endothelium and transmigration into the airway compartment. In addition, CF Airway Chips provided a more favorable environment for Pseudomonas aeruginosa growth, which resulted in enhanced secretion of inflammatory cytokines and recruitment of PMNs to the airway. CONCLUSIONS The human CF Airway Chip may provide a valuable preclinical tool for pathophysiology studies as well as for drug testing and personalized medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roberto Plebani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States; Center on Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Ratnakar Potla
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States; Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Mercy Soong
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Haiqing Bai
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Zohreh Izadifar
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Amanda Jiang
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Renee N Travis
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Chaitra Belgur
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Alexandre Dinis
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Mark J Cartwright
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Pawan Jolly
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Sarah E Gilpin
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Mario Romano
- Center on Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States; Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States; Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA, United States.
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9
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Bein A, Kim S, Goyal G, Cao W, Fadel C, Naziripour A, Sharma S, Swenor B, LoGrande N, Nurani A, Miao VN, Navia AW, Ziegler CGK, Montañes JO, Prabhala P, Kim MS, Prantil-Baun R, Rodas M, Jiang A, O’Sullivan L, Tillya G, Shalek AK, Ingber DE. Enteric Coronavirus Infection and Treatment Modeled With an Immunocompetent Human Intestine-On-A-Chip. Front Pharmacol 2021; 12:718484. [PMID: 34759819 PMCID: PMC8573067 DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2021.718484] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 10/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Many patients infected with coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV-2 and NL63 that use ACE2 receptors to infect cells, exhibit gastrointestinal symptoms and viral proteins are found in the human gastrointestinal tract, yet little is known about the inflammatory and pathological effects of coronavirus infection on the human intestine. Here, we used a human intestine-on-a-chip (Intestine Chip) microfluidic culture device lined by patient organoid-derived intestinal epithelium interfaced with human vascular endothelium to study host cellular and inflammatory responses to infection with NL63 coronavirus. These organoid-derived intestinal epithelial cells dramatically increased their ACE2 protein levels when cultured under flow in the presence of peristalsis-like mechanical deformations in the Intestine Chips compared to when cultured statically as organoids or in Transwell inserts. Infection of the intestinal epithelium with NL63 on-chip led to inflammation of the endothelium as demonstrated by loss of barrier function, increased cytokine production, and recruitment of circulating peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Treatment of NL63 infected chips with the approved protease inhibitor drug, nafamostat, inhibited viral entry and resulted in a reduction in both viral load and cytokine secretion, whereas remdesivir, one of the few drugs approved for COVID19 patients, was not found to be effective and it also was toxic to the endothelium. This model of intestinal infection was also used to test the effects of other drugs that have been proposed for potential repurposing against SARS-CoV-2. Taken together, these data suggest that the human Intestine Chip might be useful as a human preclinical model for studying coronavirus related pathology as well as for testing of potential anti-viral or anti-inflammatory therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amir Bein
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Seongmin Kim
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Girija Goyal
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Wuji Cao
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Cicely Fadel
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Arash Naziripour
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Sanjay Sharma
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Ben Swenor
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Nina LoGrande
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Atiq Nurani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Vincent N. Miao
- Program in Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School & MIT, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Department of Chemistry, and Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Andrew W. Navia
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Department of Chemistry, and Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Carly G. K. Ziegler
- Program in Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School & MIT, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Department of Chemistry, and Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Harvard Graduate Program in Biophysics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - José Ordovas Montañes
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology, and Nutrition, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Pranav Prabhala
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Min Sun Kim
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Melissa Rodas
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Amanda Jiang
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Lucy O’Sullivan
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Gladness Tillya
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Alex K. Shalek
- Program in Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard Medical School & MIT, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Institute for Medical Engineering and Science, Department of Chemistry, and Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Donald E. Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
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10
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Abstract
Microfluidic organ-on-a-chip (Organ Chip) cell culture devices are often fabricated using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) because it is biocompatible, transparent, elastomeric, and oxygen permeable; however, hydrophobic small molecules can absorb to PDMS, which makes it challenging to predict drug responses. Here, we describe a combined simulation and experimental approach to predict the spatial and temporal concentration profile of a drug under continuous dosing in a PDMS Organ Chip containing two parallel channels separated by a porous membrane that is lined with cultured cells, without prior knowledge of its log P value. First, a three-dimensional finite element model of drug loss into the chip was developed that incorporates absorption, adsorption, convection, and diffusion, which simulates changes in drug levels over time and space as a function of potential PDMS diffusion coefficients and log P values. By then experimentally measuring the diffusivity of the compound in PDMS and determining its partition coefficient through mass spectrometric analysis of the drug concentration in the channel outflow, it is possible to estimate the effective log P range of the compound. The diffusion and partition coefficients were experimentally derived for the antimalarial drug and potential SARS-CoV-2 therapeutic, amodiaquine, and incorporated into the model to quantitatively estimate the drug-specific concentration profile over time measured in human lung airway chips lined with bronchial epithelium interfaced with pulmonary microvascular endothelium. The same strategy can be applied to any device geometry, surface treatment, or in vitro microfluidic model to simulate the spatial and temporal gradient of a drug in 3D without prior knowledge of the partition coefficient or the rate of diffusion in PDMS. Thus, this approach may expand the use of PDMS Organ Chip devices for various forms of drug testing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Grant
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Alican Özkan
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Crystal Oh
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Gautam Mahajan
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA
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11
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Si L, Bai H, Rodas M, Cao W, Oh CY, Jiang A, Moller R, Hoagland D, Oishi K, Horiuchi S, Uhl S, Blanco-Melo D, Albrecht RA, Liu WC, Jordan T, Nilsson-Payant BE, Golynker I, Frere J, Logue J, Haupt R, McGrath M, Weston S, Zhang T, Plebani R, Soong M, Nurani A, Kim SM, Zhu DY, Benam KH, Goyal G, Gilpin SE, Prantil-Baun R, Gygi SP, Powers RK, Carlson KE, Frieman M, tenOever BR, Ingber DE. A human-airway-on-a-chip for the rapid identification of candidate antiviral therapeutics and prophylactics. Nat Biomed Eng 2021; 5:815-829. [PMID: 33941899 PMCID: PMC8387338 DOI: 10.1038/s41551-021-00718-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 174] [Impact Index Per Article: 58.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2020] [Accepted: 03/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
The rapid repurposing of antivirals is particularly pressing during pandemics. However, rapid assays for assessing candidate drugs typically involve in vitro screens and cell lines that do not recapitulate human physiology at the tissue and organ levels. Here we show that a microfluidic bronchial-airway-on-a-chip lined by highly differentiated human bronchial-airway epithelium and pulmonary endothelium can model viral infection, strain-dependent virulence, cytokine production and the recruitment of circulating immune cells. In airway chips infected with influenza A, the co-administration of nafamostat with oseltamivir doubled the treatment-time window for oseltamivir. In chips infected with pseudotyped severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), clinically relevant doses of the antimalarial drug amodiaquine inhibited infection but clinical doses of hydroxychloroquine and other antiviral drugs that inhibit the entry of pseudotyped SARS-CoV-2 in cell lines under static conditions did not. We also show that amodiaquine showed substantial prophylactic and therapeutic activities in hamsters challenged with native SARS-CoV-2. The human airway-on-a-chip may accelerate the identification of therapeutics and prophylactics with repurposing potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Longlong Si
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Haiqing Bai
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Melissa Rodas
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Wuji Cao
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Crystal Yuri Oh
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Amanda Jiang
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Rasmus Moller
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Daisy Hoagland
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Kohei Oishi
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Shu Horiuchi
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Skyler Uhl
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Daniel Blanco-Melo
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Randy A Albrecht
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Wen-Chun Liu
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Tristan Jordan
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Ilona Golynker
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Justin Frere
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - James Logue
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Robert Haupt
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Marisa McGrath
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Stuart Weston
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Tian Zhang
- Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Roberto Plebani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- Center on Advanced Studies and Technology (CAST), Department of Medical, Oral and Biotechnological Sciences, "G. d'Annunzio" University of Chieti-Pescara, Chieti, Italy
| | - Mercy Soong
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Atiq Nurani
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Seong Min Kim
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Danni Y Zhu
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kambez H Benam
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Girija Goyal
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sarah E Gilpin
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Steven P Gygi
- Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Rani K Powers
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kenneth E Carlson
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Matthew Frieman
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Benjamin R tenOever
- Department of Microbiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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12
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Herland A, Maoz BM, Das D, Somayaji MR, Prantil-Baun R, Novak R, Cronce M, Huffstater T, Jeanty SSF, Ingram M, Chalkiadaki A, Benson Chou D, Marquez S, Delahanty A, Jalili-Firoozinezhad S, Milton Y, Sontheimer-Phelps A, Swenor B, Levy O, Parker KK, Przekwas A, Ingber DE. Quantitative prediction of human pharmacokinetic responses to drugs via fluidically coupled vascularized organ chips. Nat Biomed Eng 2020; 4:421-436. [PMID: 31988459 PMCID: PMC8011576 DOI: 10.1038/s41551-019-0498-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 222] [Impact Index Per Article: 55.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2019] [Accepted: 11/25/2019] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Analyses of drug pharmacokinetics (PKs) and pharmacodynamics (PDs) performed in animals are often not predictive of drug PKs and PDs in humans, and in vitro PK and PD modelling does not provide quantitative PK parameters. Here, we show that physiological PK modelling of first-pass drug absorption, metabolism and excretion in humans-using computationally scaled data from multiple fluidically linked two-channel organ chips-predicts PK parameters for orally administered nicotine (using gut, liver and kidney chips) and for intravenously injected cisplatin (using coupled bone marrow, liver and kidney chips). The chips are linked through sequential robotic liquid transfers of a common blood substitute by their endothelium-lined channels (as reported by Novak et al. in an associated Article) and share an arteriovenous fluid-mixing reservoir. We also show that predictions of cisplatin PDs match previously reported patient data. The quantitative in-vitro-to-in-vivo translation of PK and PD parameters and the prediction of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity through fluidically coupled organ chips may improve the design of drug-administration regimens for phase-I clinical trials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Herland
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- Division of Micro and Nanosystems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
- AIMES, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ben M Maoz
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Debarun Das
- CFD Research Corporation, Huntsville, AL, USA
| | | | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Richard Novak
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michael Cronce
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Tessa Huffstater
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sauveur S F Jeanty
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Miles Ingram
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Angeliki Chalkiadaki
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - David Benson Chou
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Susan Marquez
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Aaron Delahanty
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sasan Jalili-Firoozinezhad
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Bioengineering and Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal Graduate Program, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Yuka Milton
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Alexandra Sontheimer-Phelps
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- Faculty of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Ben Swenor
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Oren Levy
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kevin K Parker
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.
- Division of Micro and Nanosystems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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13
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Novak R, Ingram M, Marquez S, Das D, Delahanty A, Herland A, Maoz BM, Jeanty SSF, Somayaji MR, Burt M, Calamari E, Chalkiadaki A, Cho A, Choe Y, Chou DB, Cronce M, Dauth S, Divic T, Fernandez-Alcon J, Ferrante T, Ferrier J, FitzGerald EA, Fleming R, Jalili-Firoozinezhad S, Grevesse T, Goss JA, Hamkins-Indik T, Henry O, Hinojosa C, Huffstater T, Jang KJ, Kujala V, Leng L, Mannix R, Milton Y, Nawroth J, Nestor BA, Ng CF, O'Connor B, Park TE, Sanchez H, Sliz J, Sontheimer-Phelps A, Swenor B, Thompson G, Touloumes GJ, Tranchemontagne Z, Wen N, Yadid M, Bahinski A, Hamilton GA, Levner D, Levy O, Przekwas A, Prantil-Baun R, Parker KK, Ingber DE. Robotic fluidic coupling and interrogation of multiple vascularized organ chips. Nat Biomed Eng 2020; 4:407-420. [PMID: 31988458 DOI: 10.1038/s41551-019-0497-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 209] [Impact Index Per Article: 52.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/26/2019] [Accepted: 11/25/2019] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Organ chips can recapitulate organ-level (patho)physiology, yet pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analyses require multi-organ systems linked by vascular perfusion. Here, we describe an 'interrogator' that employs liquid-handling robotics, custom software and an integrated mobile microscope for the automated culture, perfusion, medium addition, fluidic linking, sample collection and in situ microscopy imaging of up to ten organ chips inside a standard tissue-culture incubator. The robotic interrogator maintained the viability and organ-specific functions of eight vascularized, two-channel organ chips (intestine, liver, kidney, heart, lung, skin, blood-brain barrier and brain) for 3 weeks in culture when intermittently fluidically coupled via a common blood substitute through their reservoirs of medium and endothelium-lined vascular channels. We used the robotic interrogator and a physiological multicompartmental reduced-order model of the experimental system to quantitatively predict the distribution of an inulin tracer perfused through the multi-organ human-body-on-chips. The automated culture system enables the imaging of cells in the organ chips and the repeated sampling of both the vascular and interstitial compartments without compromising fluidic coupling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard Novak
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Miles Ingram
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Susan Marquez
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Debarun Das
- CFD Research Corporation, Huntsville, AL, USA
| | - Aaron Delahanty
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Anna Herland
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Division of Micro and Nanosystems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ben M Maoz
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Department of Biomedical Engineering and Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Sauveur S F Jeanty
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Morgan Burt
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Elizabeth Calamari
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Angeliki Chalkiadaki
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Youngjae Choe
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - David Benson Chou
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Michael Cronce
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Stephanie Dauth
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Toni Divic
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Jose Fernandez-Alcon
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Thomas Ferrante
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - John Ferrier
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Edward A FitzGerald
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Rachel Fleming
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Sasan Jalili-Firoozinezhad
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Bioengineering and iBB-Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Thomas Grevesse
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Josue A Goss
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Tiama Hamkins-Indik
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Olivier Henry
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Chris Hinojosa
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Tessa Huffstater
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kyung-Jin Jang
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ville Kujala
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Lian Leng
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Robert Mannix
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Yuka Milton
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Janna Nawroth
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Bret A Nestor
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Carlos F Ng
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Blakely O'Connor
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Tae-Eun Park
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Henry Sanchez
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Josiah Sliz
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Alexandra Sontheimer-Phelps
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Department of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Ben Swenor
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Guy Thompson
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - George J Touloumes
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | | | - Norman Wen
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Moran Yadid
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Anthony Bahinski
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,GlaxoSmithKline, Collegeville, PA, USA
| | - Geraldine A Hamilton
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Daniel Levner
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Emulate, Inc., Boston, MA, USA
| | - Oren Levy
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | | | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kevin K Parker
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA.,Disease Biophysics Group, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA. .,Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. .,Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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14
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Li J, Wen AM, Potla R, Benshirim E, Seebarran A, Benz MA, Henry OYF, Matthews BD, Prantil-Baun R, Gilpin SE, Levy O, Ingber DE. AAV-mediated gene therapy targeting TRPV4 mechanotransduction for inhibition of pulmonary vascular leakage. APL Bioeng 2019; 3:046103. [PMID: 31803860 PMCID: PMC6887658 DOI: 10.1063/1.5122967] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2019] [Accepted: 10/28/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Enhanced vascular permeability in the lungs can lead to pulmonary edema, impaired gas exchange, and ultimately respiratory failure. While oxygen delivery, mechanical ventilation, and pressure-reducing medications help alleviate these symptoms, they do not treat the underlying disease. Mechanical activation of transient receptor potential vanilloid 4 (TRPV4) ion channels contributes to the development of pulmonary vascular disease, and overexpression of the high homology (HH) domain of the TRPV4-associated transmembrane protein CD98 has been shown to inhibit this pathway. Here, we describe the development of an adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector encoding the CD98 HH domain in which the AAV serotypes and promoters have been optimized for efficient and specific delivery to pulmonary cells. AAV-mediated gene delivery of the CD98 HH domain inhibited TRPV4 mechanotransduction in a specific manner and protected against pulmonary vascular leakage in a human lung Alveolus-on-a-Chip model. As AAV has been used clinically to deliver other gene therapies, these data raise the possibility of using this type of targeted approach to develop mechanotherapeutics that target the TRPV4 pathway for treatment of pulmonary edema in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Juan Li
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Amy M Wen
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | | | | | | | - Maximilian A Benz
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Olivier Y F Henry
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | | | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Sarah E Gilpin
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
| | - Oren Levy
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA
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15
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Sontheimer-Phelps A, Chou DB, Tovaglieri A, Ferrante TC, Duckworth T, Fadel C, Frismantas V, Sutherland AD, Jalili-Firoozinezhad S, Kasendra M, Stas E, Weaver JC, Richmond CA, Levy O, Prantil-Baun R, Breault DT, Ingber DE. Human Colon-on-a-Chip Enables Continuous In Vitro Analysis of Colon Mucus Layer Accumulation and Physiology. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol 2019; 9:507-526. [PMID: 31778828 PMCID: PMC7036549 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2019.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 114] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Revised: 11/15/2019] [Accepted: 11/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIMS The mucus layer in the human colon protects against commensal bacteria and pathogens, and defects in its unique bilayered structure contribute to intestinal disorders, such as ulcerative colitis. However, our understanding of colon physiology is limited by the lack of in vitro models that replicate human colonic mucus layer structure and function. Here, we investigated if combining organ-on-a-chip and organoid technologies can be leveraged to develop a human-relevant in vitro model of colon mucus physiology. METHODS A human colon-on-a-chip (Colon Chip) microfluidic device lined by primary patient-derived colonic epithelial cells was used to recapitulate mucus bilayer formation, and to visualize mucus accumulation in living cultures noninvasively. RESULTS The Colon Chip supports spontaneous goblet cell differentiation and accumulation of a mucus bilayer with impenetrable and penetrable layers, and a thickness similar to that observed in the human colon, while maintaining a subpopulation of proliferative epithelial cells. Live imaging of the mucus layer formation on-chip showed that stimulation of the colonic epithelium with prostaglandin E2, which is increased during inflammation, causes rapid mucus volume expansion via an Na-K-Cl cotransporter 1 ion channel-dependent increase in its hydration state, but no increase in de novo mucus secretion. CONCLUSIONS This study shows the production of colonic mucus with a physiologically relevant bilayer structure in vitro, which can be analyzed in real time noninvasively. The Colon Chip may offer a new preclinical tool to analyze the role of mucus in human intestinal homeostasis as well as diseases, such as ulcerative colitis and cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Sontheimer-Phelps
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Biology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - David B Chou
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Alessio Tovaglieri
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Thomas C Ferrante
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Taylor Duckworth
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Bioengineering, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Cicely Fadel
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Newborn Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Viktoras Frismantas
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Arlene D Sutherland
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Sasan Jalili-Firoozinezhad
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Bioengineering, Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Magdalena Kasendra
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Eric Stas
- Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - James C Weaver
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Camilla A Richmond
- Division of Gastroenterology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Oren Levy
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - David T Breault
- Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts; Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Vascular Biology Program and Department Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts; Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts.
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16
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Prantil-Baun R, Novak R, Das D, Somayaji MR, Przekwas A, Ingber DE. Physiologically Based Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Analysis Enabled by Microfluidically Linked Organs-on-Chips. Annu Rev Pharmacol Toxicol 2019; 58:37-64. [PMID: 29309256 DOI: 10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-010716-104748] [Citation(s) in RCA: 101] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling and simulation approaches are beginning to be integrated into drug development and approval processes because they enable key pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters to be predicted from in vitro data. However, these approaches are hampered by many limitations, including an inability to incorporate organ-specific differentials in drug clearance, distribution, and absorption that result from differences in cell uptake, transport, and metabolism. Moreover, such approaches are generally unable to provide insight into pharmacodynamic (PD) parameters. Recent development of microfluidic Organ-on-a-Chip (Organ Chip) cell culture devices that recapitulate tissue-tissue interfaces, vascular perfusion, and organ-level functionality offer the ability to overcome these limitations when multiple Organ Chips are linked via their endothelium-lined vascular channels. Here, we discuss successes and challenges in the use of existing culture models and vascularized Organ Chips for PBPK and PD modeling of human drug responses, as well as in vitro to in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) of these results, and how these approaches might advance drug development and regulatory review processes in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA;
| | - Richard Novak
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA;
| | - Debarun Das
- CFD Research Corporation, Huntsville, Alabama 35806, USA
| | | | | | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA; .,Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.,Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
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17
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Park TE, Mustafaoglu N, Herland A, Hasselkus R, Mannix R, FitzGerald EA, Prantil-Baun R, Watters A, Henry O, Benz M, Sanchez H, McCrea HJ, Goumnerova LC, Song HW, Palecek SP, Shusta E, Ingber DE. Hypoxia-enhanced Blood-Brain Barrier Chip recapitulates human barrier function and shuttling of drugs and antibodies. Nat Commun 2019; 10:2621. [PMID: 31197168 DOI: 10.1101/482463v1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2018] [Accepted: 05/16/2019] [Indexed: 05/21/2023] Open
Abstract
The high selectivity of the human blood-brain barrier (BBB) restricts delivery of many pharmaceuticals and therapeutic antibodies to the central nervous system. Here, we describe an in vitro microfluidic organ-on-a-chip BBB model lined by induced pluripotent stem cell-derived human brain microvascular endothelium interfaced with primary human brain astrocytes and pericytes that recapitulates the high level of barrier function of the in vivo human BBB for at least one week in culture. The endothelium expresses high levels of tight junction proteins and functional efflux pumps, and it displays selective transcytosis of peptides and antibodies previously observed in vivo. Increased barrier functionality was accomplished using a developmentally-inspired induction protocol that includes a period of differentiation under hypoxic conditions. This enhanced BBB Chip may therefore represent a new in vitro tool for development and validation of delivery systems that transport drugs and therapeutic antibodies across the human BBB.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tae-Eun Park
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), UNIST-gil 50, Ulsan, 44919, Republic of Korea
| | - Nur Mustafaoglu
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Anna Herland
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Division of Micro and Nanosystems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden
- Swedish Medical Nanoscience Center, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Ryan Hasselkus
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Robert Mannix
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Edward A FitzGerald
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Alexander Watters
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Olivier Henry
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Maximilian Benz
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Henry Sanchez
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Heather J McCrea
- Department of Neurosurgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | | | - Hannah W Song
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
| | - Sean P Palecek
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
| | - Eric Shusta
- Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, 53706, USA
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA.
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
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18
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Tovaglieri A, Sontheimer-Phelps A, Geirnaert A, Prantil-Baun R, Camacho DM, Chou DB, Jalili-Firoozinezhad S, de Wouters T, Kasendra M, Super M, Cartwright MJ, Richmond CA, Breault DT, Lacroix C, Ingber DE. Species-specific enhancement of enterohemorrhagic E. coli pathogenesis mediated by microbiome metabolites. Microbiome 2019; 7:43. [PMID: 30890187 PMCID: PMC6425591 DOI: 10.1186/s40168-019-0650-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 84] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2018] [Accepted: 02/21/2019] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Species-specific differences in tolerance to infection are exemplified by the high susceptibility of humans to enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) infection, whereas mice are relatively resistant to this pathogen. This intrinsic species-specific difference in EHEC infection limits the translation of murine research to human. Furthermore, studying the mechanisms underlying this differential susceptibility is a difficult problem due to complex in vivo interactions between the host, pathogen, and disparate commensal microbial communities. RESULTS We utilize organ-on-a-chip (Organ Chip) microfluidic culture technology to model damage of the human colonic epithelium induced by EHEC infection, and show that epithelial injury is greater when exposed to metabolites derived from the human gut microbiome compared to mouse. Using a multi-omics approach, we discovered four human microbiome metabolites-4-methyl benzoic acid, 3,4-dimethylbenzoic acid, hexanoic acid, and heptanoic acid-that are sufficient to mediate this effect. The active human microbiome metabolites preferentially induce expression of flagellin, a bacterial protein associated with motility of EHEC and increased epithelial injury. Thus, the decreased tolerance to infection observed in humans versus other species may be due in part to the presence of compounds produced by the human intestinal microbiome that actively promote bacterial pathogenicity. CONCLUSION Organ-on-chip technology allowed the identification of specific human microbiome metabolites modulating EHEC pathogenesis. These identified metabolites are sufficient to increase susceptibility to EHEC in our human Colon Chip model and they contribute to species-specific tolerance. This work suggests that higher concentrations of these metabolites could be the reason for higher susceptibility to EHEC infection in certain human populations, such as children. Furthermore, this research lays the foundation for therapeutic-modulation of microbe products in order to prevent and treat human bacterial infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessio Tovaglieri
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Alexandra Sontheimer-Phelps
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Freiburg, 79085, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Annelies Geirnaert
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Rachelle Prantil-Baun
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Diogo M Camacho
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - David B Chou
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Pathology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Sasan Jalili-Firoozinezhad
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Bioengineering and iBB, Institute for Bioengineering and Biosciences, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-004, Lisbon, Portugal
| | - Tomás de Wouters
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Magdalena Kasendra
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Present Address: Emulate Inc., 27 Drydock Avenue, Boston, MA, 02210, USA
| | - Michael Super
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Mark J Cartwright
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Camilla A Richmond
- Division of Gastroenterology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02139, USA
| | - David T Breault
- Department of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard Stem Cell Institute, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02139, USA
- Division of Endocrinology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Christophe Lacroix
- Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Donald E Ingber
- Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Vascular Biology Program and Department of Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
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19
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Coppeta JR, Mescher MJ, Isenberg BC, Spencer AJ, Kim ES, Lever AR, Mulhern TJ, Prantil-Baun R, Comolli JC, Borenstein JT. A portable and reconfigurable multi-organ platform for drug development with onboard microfluidic flow control. Lab Chip 2016; 17:134-144. [PMID: 27901159 PMCID: PMC5177565 DOI: 10.1039/c6lc01236a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 65] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
The drug development pipeline is severely limited by a lack of reliable tools for prediction of human clinical safety and efficacy profiles for compounds at the pre-clinical stage. Here we present the design and implementation of a platform technology comprising multiple human cell-based tissue models in a portable and reconfigurable format that supports individual organ function and crosstalk for periods of up to several weeks. Organ perfusion and crosstalk are enabled by a precision flow control technology based on electromagnetic actuators embedded in an arrayed format on a microfluidic platform. We demonstrate two parallel circuits of connected airway and liver modules on a platform containing 62 electromagnetic microactuators, with precise and controlled flow rates as well as functional biological metrics over a two week time course. Technical advancements enabled by this platform include the use of non-sorptive construction materials, enhanced scalability, portability, flow control, and usability relative to conventional flow control modes (such as capillary action, pressure heads, or pneumatic air lines), and a reconfigurable and modular organ model format with common fluidic port architecture. We demonstrate stable biological function for multiple pairs of airway-liver models for periods of 2 weeks in the platform, with precise control over fluid levels, temperature, flow rate and oxygenation in order to support relevant use cases involving drug toxicity, efficacy testing, and organ-organ interaction.
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Affiliation(s)
- J R Coppeta
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - M J Mescher
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - B C Isenberg
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - A J Spencer
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - E S Kim
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - A R Lever
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - T J Mulhern
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - R Prantil-Baun
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - J C Comolli
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
| | - J T Borenstein
- Materials and Microfabrication Directorate, Draper, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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20
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Lever AR, Park H, Mulhern TJ, Jackson GR, Comolli JC, Borenstein JT, Hayden PJ, Prantil-Baun R. Comprehensive evaluation of poly(I:C) induced inflammatory response in an airway epithelial model. Physiol Rep 2015; 3:3/4/e12334. [PMID: 25847914 PMCID: PMC4425952 DOI: 10.14814/phy2.12334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Respiratory viruses invade the upper airway of the lung, triggering a potent immune response that often exacerbates preexisting conditions such as asthma and COPD. Poly(I:C) is a synthetic analog of viral dsRNA that induces the characteristic inflammatory response associated with viral infection, such as loss of epithelial integrity, and increased production of mucus and inflammatory cytokines. Here, we explore the mechanistic responses to poly(I:C) in a well-defined primary normal human bronchial epithelial (NHBE) model that recapitulates in vivo functions and responses. We developed functional and quantifiable methods to evaluate the physiology of our model in both healthy and inflamed states. Through gene and protein expression, we validated the differentiation state and population of essential cell subtypes (i.e., ciliated, goblet, club, and basal cells) as compared to the human lung. Assays for total mucus production, cytokine secretion, and barrier function were used to evaluate in vitro physiology and response to viral insult. Cells were treated apically with poly(I:C) and evaluated 48 h after induction. Results revealed a dose-dependent increase in goblet cell differentiation, as well as, an increase in mucus production relative to controls. There was also a dose-dependent increase in secretion of IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, and RANTES. Epithelial barrier function, as measured by TEER, was maintained at 1501 ± 355 Ω*cm² postdifferentiation, but dropped significantly when challenged with poly(I:C). This study provides first steps toward a well-characterized model with defined functional methods for understanding dsRNA stimulated inflammatory responses in a physiologically relevant manner.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda R Lever
- Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, Massachusetts
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21
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Clark AM, Wheeler SE, Taylor DP, Pillai VC, Young CL, Prantil-Baun R, Nguyen T, Stolz DB, Borenstein JT, Lauffenburger DA, Venkataramanan R, Griffith LG, Wells A. A microphysiological system model of therapy for liver micrometastases. Exp Biol Med (Maywood) 2014; 239:1170-9. [PMID: 24821820 DOI: 10.1177/1535370214532596] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Metastasis accounts for almost 90% of cancer-associated mortality. The effectiveness of cancer therapeutics is limited by the protective microenvironment of the metastatic niche and consequently these disseminated tumors remain incurable. Metastatic disease progression continues to be poorly understood due to the lack of appropriate model systems. To address this gap in understanding, we propose an all-human microphysiological system that facilitates the investigation of cancer behavior in the liver metastatic niche. This existing LiverChip is a 3D-system modeling the hepatic niche; it incorporates a full complement of human parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells and effectively recapitulates micrometastases. Moreover, this system allows real-time monitoring of micrometastasis and assessment of human-specific signaling. It is being utilized to further our understanding of the efficacy of chemotherapeutics by examining the activity of established and novel agents on micrometastases under conditions replicating diurnal variations in hormones, nutrients and mild inflammatory states using programmable microdispensers. These inputs affect the cues that govern tumor cell responses. Three critical signaling groups are targeted: the glucose/insulin responses, the stress hormone cortisol and the gut microbiome in relation to inflammatory cues. Currently, the system sustains functioning hepatocytes for a minimum of 15 days; confirmed by monitoring hepatic function (urea, α-1-antitrypsin, fibrinogen, and cytochrome P450) and injury (AST and ALT). Breast cancer cell lines effectively integrate into the hepatic niche without detectable disruption to tissue, and preliminary evidence suggests growth attenuation amongst a subpopulation of breast cancer cells. xMAP technology combined with systems biology modeling are also employed to evaluate cellular crosstalk and illustrate communication networks in the early microenvironment of micrometastases. This model is anticipated to identify new therapeutic strategies for metastasis by elucidating the paracrine effects between the hepatic and metastatic cells, while concurrently evaluating agent efficacy for metastasis, metabolism and tolerability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda M Clark
- Departments of Pathology, Cell Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Bioengineering, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh VA Health System, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Sarah E Wheeler
- Departments of Pathology, Cell Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Bioengineering, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh VA Health System, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Donald P Taylor
- Departments of Pathology, Cell Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Bioengineering, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh VA Health System, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Venkateswaran C Pillai
- Departments of Pathology, Cell Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Bioengineering, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh VA Health System, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Carissa L Young
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02319, USA
| | | | - Transon Nguyen
- Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Donna B Stolz
- Departments of Pathology, Cell Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Bioengineering, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh VA Health System, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | | | - Douglas A Lauffenburger
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02319, USA
| | - Raman Venkataramanan
- Departments of Pathology, Cell Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Bioengineering, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh VA Health System, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Linda G Griffith
- Department of Biological Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02319, USA
| | - Alan Wells
- Departments of Pathology, Cell Biology, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Bioengineering, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh VA Health System, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
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22
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Wheeler SE, Borenstein JT, Clark AM, Ebrahimkhani MR, Fox IJ, Griffith L, Inman W, Lauffenburger D, Nguyen T, Pillai VC, Prantil-Baun R, Stolz DB, Taylor D, Ulrich T, Venkataramanan R, Wells A, Young C. All-human microphysical model of metastasis therapy. Stem Cell Res Ther 2013; 4 Suppl 1:S11. [PMID: 24565274 PMCID: PMC4028965 DOI: 10.1186/scrt372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The vast majority of cancer mortalities result from distant metastases. The metastatic microenvironment provides unique protection to ectopic tumors as the primary tumors often respond to specific agents. Although significant interventional progress has been made on primary tumors, the lack of relevant accessible model in vitro systems in which to study metastases has plagued metastatic therapeutic development - particularly among micrometastases. A real-time, all-human model of metastatic seeding and cancer cells that recapitulate metastatic growth and can be probed in real time by a variety of measures and challenges would provide a critical window into the pathophysiology of metastasis and pharmacology of metastatic tumor resistance. To achieve this we are advancing our microscale bioreactor that incorporates human hepatocytes, human nonparenchymal liver cells, and human breast cancer cells to mimic the hepatic niche in three dimensions with functional tissue. This bioreactor is instrumented with oxygen sensors, micropumps capable of generating diurnally varying profiles of nutrients and hormones, while enabling real-time sampling. Since the liver is a major metastatic site for a wide variety of carcinomas and other tumors, this bioreactor uniquely allows us to more accurately recreate the human metastatic microenvironment and probe the paracrine effects between the liver parenchyma and metastatic cells. Further, as the liver is the principal site of xenobiotic metabolism, this reactor will help us investigate the chemotherapeutic response within a metabolically challenged liver microenvironment. This model is anticipated to yield markers of metastatic behavior and pharmacologic metabolism that will enable better clinical monitoring, and will guide the design of clinical studies to understand drug efficacy and safety in cancer therapeutics. This highly instrumented bioreactor format, hosting a growing tumor within a microenvironment and monitoring its responses, is readily transferable to other organs, giving this work impact beyond the liver.
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23
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Wheeler SE, Taylor DP, Clark AM, Borenstein JT, Ebrahimkhani MR, Inman W, Nguyen T, Pillai VC, Prantil-Baun R, Ulrich TA, Venkataramanan R, Lauffenburger DA, Griffith L, Stolz DB, Wells A. Abstract P5-04-08: Modeling breast cancer dormancy. Cancer Res 2013. [DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.sabcs13-p5-04-08] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Most cancer mortality results from distant metastases. The metastatic microenvironment protects ectopic tumors, these nodules are often resistant to agents that eradicate the primary mass. Although significant interventional progress has been made on primary tumors, the lack of relevant accessible model in vitro systems in which to study metastases has plagued metastatic therapeutic development – particularly among micrometastases. One third of women diagnosed with breast cancer (BC) will have metastatic disease which often presents years after a seeming cure from the primary malignancy. An in silico model of micrometastases strongly suggests that these disseminated cells are quiescent, or ‘dormant’, for long periods of time. Current models fail to recapitulate metastatic dormancy, in vivo due to issues of spontaneous metastases and rodent lifespan and in vitro due to the nascent state of organotypic organs or microphysiological systems (MPS). We hypothesize that even the most developed MPS do not allow tumors to attain dormancy due to continued stress signaling from stiff matrices and an artificial microenvironment. We use an innovative all human three dimensional liver MPS to faithfully reproduce human physiology and pathology. In the initial iteration, the liver cells are isolated from therapeutic partial hepatectomies, but as this source may be limiting, we are examining induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC). Currently these iPSC-derived hepatocyte-like cells demonstrate cyp p450 activity and production of fibrinogen and urea through 15 days in our MPS, albeit at levels below fresh human hepatocytes; optimization protocols are underway.
In the first phase of this work we optimized the flow rate and seeding of hepatocytes with non-parenchymal cells (NPCs) from fresh human liver resections. We found that higher flow rates produced poorer tissue formation and increased stress fibers/actin filaments. We maintained functioning hepatocytes in the MPS through 15 days. Hepatocyte function and injury was measured by urea, lactate, AST, ALT, A1AT, fibrinogen and cyp p450 assays. NPCs survived through the 15 day endpoint with immunofluorescent microscopy visualizing leukocytes, endothelial cells and macrophages. The proliferative MDA MB 231 BC cell line showed preliminary evidence of growth attenuation after 12 days of culture in a subpopulation of cells in our MPS. Luminex cancer panel studies are underway with systems biology modeling to describe a communication network in the early microenvironment of micrometastases.
In parallel we are piloting hydrogel scaffolds that support tissue formation but provide a more physiologic rheology; stiff supporting materials yield an inflammatory phenotype in the NPC which forces even well-differentiated BC cells towards a mesenchymal phenotype. We found that hydrogels support hepatocytes through 15 days and incorporate cancer cells. Micropumps are also being developed by Draper Laboratories to allow for physiologic diurnal variations of hormones and nutrients to liver tissues to accurately assess dormancy and chemotherapy response. The completion of these studies will provide insights into the tumor biology of dormant micrometastases and an accessible tool for testing of therapeutics against metastatic BC in a metabolically competent system.
Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P5-04-08.
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Affiliation(s)
- SE Wheeler
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - DP Taylor
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - AM Clark
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - JT Borenstein
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - MR Ebrahimkhani
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - W Inman
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - T Nguyen
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - VC Pillai
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - R Prantil-Baun
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - TA Ulrich
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - R Venkataramanan
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - DA Lauffenburger
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - L Griffith
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - DB Stolz
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
| | - A Wells
- University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc, Cambridge, MA; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
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24
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Abstract
To determine the relative contributions of aging and atherosclerosis to vascular stiffness, we studied aortic stiffness, plaque, and elastin in 8-, 16-, 25-, and 34-week-old male ApoE-KO and C57BL/6J control mice (N = 48). Stiffness increased gradually in both strains up to 25 weeks (p < 0.05), and dramatically between 25 and 34 weeks in ApoE-KO (p < 0.001). Aging ApoE-KO demonstrated increased plaque (p = 0.02), medial thickening (p < 0.001), and severe elastin fragmentation (p < 0.001). We conclude that the contribution of aging to vascular stiffness is relatively minor compared with the influence of atherosclerosis. However, the effect of atherosclerosis on stiffness is significant only with advanced stages of plaque formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linda C Santelices
- Lupus Center of Excellence, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA
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25
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Prantil-Baun R, de Groat WC, Miyazato M, Chancellor MB, Yoshimura N, Vorp DA. Ex vivo biomechanical, functional, and immunohistochemical alterations of adrenergic responses in the female urethra in a rat model of birth trauma. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 2010; 299:F316-24. [PMID: 20444739 DOI: 10.1152/ajprenal.00299.2009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Birth trauma and pelvic injury have been implicated in the etiology of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). This study aimed to assess changes in the biomechanical properties and adrenergic-evoked contractile responses of the rat urethra after simulated birth trauma induced by vaginal distension (VD). Urethras were isolated 4 days after VD and evaluated in our established ex vivo urethral testing system that utilized a laser micrometer to measure the urethral outer diameter at proximal, middle, and distal positions. Segments were precontracted with phenylephrine (PE) and then exposed to intralumenal static pressures ranging from 0 to 20 mmHg to measure urethral compliance. After active assessment, the urethra was rendered passive with EDTA and assessed. Pressure and diameter measurements were recorded via computer. Urethral thickness was measured histologically to calculate circumferential stress-strain response and functional contraction ratio (FCR), a measure of smooth muscle activity. VD proximal urethras exhibited a significantly increased response to PE compared with that in controls. Conversely, proximal VD urethras had significantly decreased circumferential stress and FCR values in the presence of PE, suggesting that VD reduced the ability of the proximal segment to maintain smooth muscle tone at higher pressures and strains. Circumferential stress values for VD middle urethral segments were significantly higher than control values. Histological analyses using antibodies against general (protein gene product 9.5) and sympathetic (tyrosine hydroxylase) nerve markers showed a significant reduction in nerve density in VD proximal and middle urethral segments. These results strongly suggest that VD damages adrenergic nerves and alters adrenergic responses of proximal and middle urethral smooth muscle. Defects in urethral storage mechanisms, involving changes in adrenergic regulation, may contribute to stress urinary incontinence induced by simulated birth trauma.
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