Primarily developed to increase the accuracy of drug
research in the lab, could a 3D Organ On A Chip also point to the future of
cruelty-free drug testing by reducing the use of lab animals?
By: Ringo Bones
The newfangled device, which incorporates cells inside a 3D
transistor made from a soft sponge-like material inspired by how cells in
nature are structured, now allows scientists the ability to study cells and
tissues in new ways. By enabling cells to grow in three dimensions, the device
more accurately mimics the way that cells grow in the body. The researchers,
led by the University of Cambridge say their device could be modified to generate
multiple types of organs – a liver on a chip or a heart on a chip, for example –
ultimately leading to a body on a chip which would simulate how various
treatments affect the body as a whole. Their results are reported in the
journal Science Advances.
Traditionally, biological studies were – and still are –
done in petri dishes, where specific types of cells are grown on a flat
surface. While many of the medical advances made since the 1950s, including the
polio vaccine, have originated in petri dishes, these two-dimensional
environments do not accurately represent the native three-dimensional environments
of human cells and can, in fact, leas to misleading information and failures of
drugs in clinical trials. “Two-dimensional cell models have served the
scientific community well, but we now need to move to three-dimensional cell
models in order to develop the next generation of therapies,” says Dr. Roisin
Owens from
Cambridge’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology and
the study’s senior author.
Cambridge University’s 3D Organ On A Chip could also spell
good news on the reduction of the use of lab animals which could eventually
lead to cruelty-free drug testing. Remember how Canadian scientists Fredrick G.
Banting and his team discovered insulin back in 1921? They extensively used
dogs in their lab to find out how insulin works and how it could be used to
treat Type-1 diabetes in humans and unfortunately, it resulted in the deaths of
many dogs.
