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The organ-on-a-chip (OOC) technology has been utilized in a lot of biomedical fields such as fundamental physiological and pharmacological researches. Various materials have been introduced in OOC and can be broadly classified into inorganic, organic, and hybrid materials. Although PDMS continues to be the preferred material for laboratory research, materials for OOC are constantly evolving and progressing, and have promoted the development of OOC. This mini review provides a summary of the various type of materials for OOC systems, focusing on the progress of materials and related fabrication technologies within the last 5 years. The advantages and drawbacks of these materials in particular applications are discussed. In addition, future perspectives and challenges are also discussed.

Docetaxel (DTX) is a new semisynthetic chemical in the taxoid family and serves a wide spectrum of chemotherapeutics. Current commercial formulation of DTX is based on the addition of the nonionic surfactants (i.e., ethanol and Tween 80), which are reported to cause severe hemolysis, hypersensitivity reactions, or neurotoxic toxicity and greatly hinders patient tolerance or compliance. In this report, a novel low‐toxic, biodegradable, and amphiphilic poly[(R)‐3‐hydroxybutyrate‐(R)‐3‐hydroxyhexanoate] (PHBHx)‐based polyurethane (a copolymer made of hydrophobic PHBHx with biocompatible D‐3‐hydroxybutyric acid as degradation product, thermosensitive polypropylene glycol (PPG), and hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG) segments) with nanosized micelle formation ability to encapsulate DTX, as a surfactant free formulation, is reported. Interestingly, this DTX‐loaded poly(PHBHx/PEG/PPG urethane) micelle formulation with >90% drug loading efficiency shows significantly improved DTX solubility in aqueous medium, reduced hemolysis for better blood compatibility, and increased drug uptake in A375 melanoma cells, which provides the possibility of systematic delivery of DTX. As a proof‐of‐concept, an A375 melanoma xenograft mouse model is established to verify the therapeutic effect of this DTX‐loaded poly(PHBHx/PEG/PPG urethane) micelle formulation, indicating the promising application of PHBHx‐based polymeric nanosized micelle as a surfactant free formulation of chemotherapeutics which might greatly be beneficial for controllable delivery of pharmaceutics and cancer therapy.

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