Pancreas-on-a-Chip Technology for Transplantation Applications

Abstract

Purpose of Review Human pancreas-on-a-chip (PoC) technology is quickly advancing as a platform for complex in vitro modeling of islet physiology. This review summarizes the current progress and evaluates the possibility of using this technology for clinical islet transplantation. Recent Findings PoC microfluidic platforms have mainly shown proof of principle for long-term culturing of islets to study islet function in a standardized format. Advancement in microfluidic design by using imaging-compatible biomaterials and biosensor technology might provide a novel future tool for predicting islet transplantation outcome. Progress in combining islets with other tissue types gives a possibility to study diabetic interventions in a minimal equivalent in vitro environment. Summary Although the field of PoC is still in its infancy, considerable progress in the development of functional systems has brought the technology on the verge of a general applicable tool that may be used to study islet quality and to replace animal testing in the development of diabetes interventions.

PBPK Modeling on Organs-on-Chips: An Overview of Recent Advancements

“…Advances in microfluidic design through the use of imaging compatible bio-materials and biosensor technology may provide a new future tool for predicting the outcome of islet transplantation. The progress of combining pancreatic islets with other types of tissues provides the possibility to study diabetes intervention in a minimally equivalent in vitro environment ( Abadpour et al, 2020 ). With the purpose to investigate the cause of cystic fibrosis, A pancreas-on-a-chip incorporated in an in vitro co-culture system was proposed to deepened the understanding of pancreatic function ( Shik Mun et al, 2019 ).…”

Relevance of organ(s)-on-a-chip systems to the investigation of food-gut microbiota-host interactions

“…Pancreas-on-a-chip are the OoC models that have been developed most recently. They are being used to investigate type-1 diabetes (Rogal et al 2019), cystic fibrosis-related diabetes (Shik Mun et al 2019), function restoration of the islets (Sokolowska et al 2020) and the possibility of islet transplantation (Abadpour et al 2020).…”

“…A particularly interesting study focussed on the generation of a pancreas-liver tandem to assess the regulation of the glucose circulation by the pancreatic islets in the system (Bauer et al 2017). Additionally, as the pancreas is involved in other body processes, multi-organ structures have been investigated to study absorption rates and mechanisms of action of anti-cancer therapies or immunosuppressive medications (Abadpour et al 2020) .…”

On‐line reduction of insulin disulfide bonds with photoinduced radical reactions, upstream to nano liquid chromatography‐mass spectrometry

“…Insulin is an endocrine hormone produced in the pancreatic islets, which is responsible for regulation of the blood glucose level in collaboration with glucagon [7]. Monitoring the production and secretion of insulin and other molecules is of great relevance for evaluating the stages of organoid/chip development for, for example, diabetes research [5].…”