Pumpless microfluidic platform for drug testing on human skin equivalents.

ABSTRACT: Advances in bio-mimetic in vitro human skin models increase the efficiency of drug screening studies. In this study, we designed and developed a microfluidic platform that allows for long-term maintenance of full thickness human skin equivalents (HSE) which are comprised of both the epidermal and dermal compartments. The design is based on the physiologically relevant blood residence times in human skin tissue and allows for the establishment of an air-epidermal interface which is crucial for maturation and terminal differentiation of HSEs. The small scale of the design reduces the amount of culture medium and the number of cells required by 36 fold compared to conventional transwell cultures. Our HSE-on-a-chip platform has the capability to recirculate the medium at desired flow rates wit

SUBMITTER: Abaci HE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4305008 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature