Microfluidic platforms for the study of neuronal injury in vitro

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects 5.3 million people in the United States, and there are 12,500 new cases of spinal cord injury (SCI) every year. There is yet a significant need for in vitro models of TBI and SCI in order to understand the biological mechanisms underlying central nervous system (CNS) injury and to identify and test therapeutics to aid in recovery from neuronal injuries. While TBI or SCI studies have been aided with traditional in vivo and in vitro models, the innate limitations in specificity of injury, isolation of neuronal regions, and reproducibility of these models can decrease their usefulness in examining the neurobiology of injury. Microfluidic devices provide several advantages over traditional methods by allowing researchers to (1) examine the effect of injury on specific neural components, (2) fluidically isolate neuronal regions to examine specific effects on subcellular components, and (3) reproducibly create a variety of injuries to model TBI and SCI. These microfluidic devices are adaptable for modeling a wide range of injuries, and in this review, we will examine different methodologies and models recently utilized to examine neuronal injury. Specifically, we will examine vacuum-assisted axotomy, physical injury, chemical injury, and laser-based axotomy. Finally, we will discuss the benefits and downsides to each type of injury model and discuss how researchers can use these parameters to pick a particular microfluidic device to model CNS injury.

Tissue Models for Neurogenesis and Repair in 3D

“…Current approaches to study and understand peripheral nerve repair are almost entirely conducted in in vivo with critically sized defects. While this is certainly the most direct method, there remains an unmet need for a highly reproducible in vitro model to understand these processes prior to in vivo implantation . Tissue models designed to study peripheral nerve growth are limited in that they lack the ability to create neural networks, directly measure the growth of these nascent networks, or accurately model injury conditions to study repair and regeneration.…”

In Vitro Blood–Brain Barrier-Integrated Neurological Disorder Models Using a Microfluidic Device

“…The spinal cord is an essential and complex part of CNS, which serves as the path for motor and sensory neurons. Spinal cord injuries (SCIs) arise when its complex structure is damaged by external forces, thereby resulting in total or partial loss of its function [65]. 2D CMSs are one of the useful platforms to study such kinds of SCIs.…”

Influence of Culture Conditions on Cell Proliferation in a Microfluidic Channel

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Moreover, the development of a microfluidic organ model, named organ-on-a-chip, has become a widely used tool for bioassays, and has proven to be especially useful for drug development as an alternative approach to animal testing, emerging as a major topic in bioanalytical chemistry. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] Since a microchannel has a higher culture area-to-volume ratio compared to a conventional cell culture dish, traditional cell culture techniques cannot be directly transferred to a microfluidic cell culture system. Indeed, the application of macroscale cell culture instructions to a microchannel results in low viability and poor quality.…”