Scientists have developed a pioneering 3D-printed device that could speed patient access to new medicines and eliminate the need for animal testing.
Thousands of animals are used each year in the early stages of drug development worldwide, but many drugs tested on animals ultimately show no clinical benefit.
Now researchers at the University of Edinburgh have designed a ground-breaking “body-on-a-chip” that perfectly mimics how a medicine flows through a patient’s body. The plastic device means scientists can test drugs to see how different organs react without the need for live animal tests.
The device invented in Edinburgh is the first of its kind in the world. Made with a 3D printer, the chip’s five compartments replicate the human heart, lungs, kidney, liver and brain. They are connected by channels that mimic the human circulatory system, through which new drugs can be pumped.
The plastic device uses positron emission tomography (PET) scanning to produce detailed 3D images that show what’s going on inside the tiny organs. “The PET images are what enable us to ensure the flow [of new drugs being tested] are equal,” said Liam Carr, the inventor of the device.
PET scanning involves injecting small amounts of radioactive compounds into the chip to transmit signals to a highly sensitive camera, allowing scientists to better evaluate the effect of new drugs.
“This device is the first designed specifically for measuring drug distribution, with a uniform flow paired with organ compartments large enough to sample drug uptake for mathematical modeling. Essentially, it allows us to see where a new drug goes in the body and how long it stays there, without using a human or animal to test it.”
Carr added: “The platform is completely flexible and can be a valuable tool for investigating various human diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases and immune diseases.
“Because of this flexibility, the uses are only bound by the availability of these cell models, and the scientific questions we can think of.
“For example, we can have a fatty liver disease model in the device and use it to see how a diseased liver affects other organs such as the heart, brain, kidneys, etc., and can even combine multiple diseased cell models to see how diseases can interfere with each other.”
Carr’s supervisor, Dr Adriana Tavares, from Edinburgh’s Center for Cardiovascular Science (CVS), said connecting five organs on one device would help scientists effectively study how a new drug might affect a patient’s whole body.
“This is a very important area of medical research, as we are constantly learning about how diseases traditionally considered to be limited to one organ or system can have diverse effects across other distant organs or different interconnected systems.
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“Devices such as the body-on-chip platform are essential to unravel the mechanisms underlying systemic effects of local diseases, as well as to investigate off-target effects of drugs, which may be therapeutically useful or detrimental.”
She added: “This device shows very strong potential to reduce the large number of animals used worldwide for testing drugs and other compounds, especially in the early stages, where only 2% of compounds progress through the discovery pipeline.”
Tavares said there are other benefits than simply eliminating the need to use animals in early drug development.
“This non-animal approach can significantly reduce the cost of drug discovery, accelerate the translation of medicines into the clinic, and improve our understanding of systemic effects of human disease by using models that are more representative of human biology than animal models.”
The body-on-chip device was developed through a National Center for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) and Unilever co-funded PhD studentship grant.
Dr Susan Bodie, from Edinburgh Innovations, the university’s commercialization unit, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Liam and the CVS team in the development of this ‘body-on-chip’, and we look forward to seeing the impact to see of this. new device has on the testing and progress of new compounds and drugs in the future.”
