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Bone‐on‐a‐Chip: Microfluidic Technologies and Microphysiologic Models of Bone Tissue
Author(s) -
Mansoorifar Amin,
Gordon Ryan,
Bergan Raymond C.,
Bertassoni Luiz E.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.202006796
Subject(s) - organ on a chip , microfluidics , bone tissue , biomedical engineering , microfluidic chip , osteoporosis , process (computing) , materials science , tissue engineering , nanotechnology , computer science , medicine , pathology , operating system
Abstract Bone is an active organ that continuously undergoes an orchestrated process of remodeling throughout life. Bone tissue is uniquely capable of adapting to loading, hormonal, and other changes happening in the body, as well as repairing bone that becomes damaged to maintain tissue integrity. On the other hand, diseases such as osteoporosis and metastatic cancers disrupt normal bone homeostasis leading to compromised function. Historically, the ability to investigate processes related to either physiologic or diseased bone tissue is limited by traditional models that fail to emulate the complexity of native bone. Organ‐on‐a‐chip models are based on technological advances in tissue engineering and microfluidics, enabling the reproduction of key features specific to tissue microenvironments within a microfabricated device. Compared to conventional in vitro and in vivo bone models, microfluidic models, and especially organ‐on‐a‐chip platforms, provide more biomimetic tissue culture conditions, with increased predictive power for clinical assays. In this review, microfluidic and organ‐on‐a‐chip technologies designed for understanding the biology of bone as well as bone‐related diseases and treatments are reported. Finally, the authors discuss the limitations of the current models and point toward future directions for microfluidics and organ‐on‐a‐chip technologies in bone research.