Organ-on-a-chip top and bottom layers

It is possible to couple Micronit OOC devices to commercial optical readers for dissolved gases in the culture medium. This option allows for applications such as the monitoring of oxygen in the culture chamber.

Have a look at this document about imaging systems.

Always check that there’s no blockage in one of the flow paths, this can be verified by checking the amount of collected liquid in a specific time frame and compare it with the expected amount for the flow rate used. If this isn't the case, droplet formation on the end of the tubing is the problem. Each falling droplet affects the flow a bit, resulting in changes in flow rates. Resolve this by keeping the end of the tubing in the collection reservoir submerged in liquid.

Cleaning Resealable flowcells are produced in cleanroom facilities and clean areas to prevent physical impurities. After use, cleaning might be required to remove organic residues. Please use distinguished cleaning processes for glass slides with and without a gasket. Glass slides with gasket: Can be cleaned with ethanol, isopropanol and acetone. The glass slides could be either immersed in the solvents or rinsed with them. Immersion might lead to diffusion of solvents into the gasket. Therefore, it is recommended to rinse the glass slide with the gasket thoroughly with water or buffer to remove residues. Only wipe with lint free tissue, otherwise the sealing might be affected negatively or completely lost. It is advised to not wipe the gasket as this might damage it and reduce its sealing abilities. Physical cleaning of the surface by either heat (with a maximum temperature of 140 °C) or oxygen plasma is possible. Cleaning with acids or bases has not been fully tested. Glass...

Sterilization Resealable flowcells are not sterilized when delivered. Please use distinguished sterilization processes for glass slides with and without a gasket. Glass slides with gasket: Can be sterilized with ethanol. Dry heat of up to 140 °C can be applied. Can be autoclaved. Glass slides without gasket: Can be sterilized with ethanol. Can be autoclaved.

The oxygen permeability data from the exact material grade used is not available, however the  data  from a different grade of the same material family, can be found below. 

Kulthong K, Duivenvoorde L, Mizera BZ, Rijkers D, Dam GT, Oegema G, Puzyn T, Bouwmeester H, Van Der Zande M. Implementation of a dynamic intestinal gut-on-a-chip barrier model for transport studies of lipophilic dioxin congeners. RSC Advances. 2018; 8(57): 32440-32453 Abstract Novel microfluidic technologies allow the manufacture of in vitro organ-on-a-chip systems that hold great promise to adequately recapitulate the biophysical and functional complexity of organs found in vivo. In this study, a gut-on-a-chip model was developed aiming to study the potential cellular association and transport of food contaminants. Intestinal epithelial cells (Caco-2) were cultured on a porous polyester membrane that was tightly clamped between two glass slides to form two separate flow chambers. Glass syringes, polytetrafluoroethylene tubing and glass microfluidic chips were selected to minimize...

Kulthong K, Duivenvoorde L, Sun H, Confederat S, Wu J, Spenkelink B, de Haan L, Marin V, van der Zande M, Bouwmeester H. Microfluidic chip for culturing intestinal epithelial cell layers: Characterization and comparison of drug transport between dynamic and static models. Toxicol In Vitro. 2020 Jun;65:104815 Abstract Dynamic flow in vitro models are currently widely explored for their applicability in drug development research. The application of gut-on-chip models in toxicology is lagging behind. Here we report the application of a gut-on-chip model for biokinetic studies and compare the observed biokinetics of reference compounds with those obtained using a conventional static in vitro ...

Kulthong K, Hooiveld GJEJ, Duivenvoorde L, Miro Estruch I, Marin V, van der Zande M, Bouwmeester H. Transcriptome comparisons of in vitro intestinal epithelia grown under static and microfluidic gut-on-chip conditions with in vivo human epithelia. Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 5;11(1):3234. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-82853-6. Abstract Gut-on-chip devices enable exposure of cells to a continuous flow of culture medium, inducing shear stresses and could thus better recapitulate the in vivo human intestinal environment in an in vitro epithelial model compared to static culture methods. We aimed to study if dynamic culture conditions affect the gene expression of Caco-2 cells cultured statically or dynamically in a gut-on-chip device and...

Duivenvoorde LPM, Louisse J, Pinckaers NET, Nguyen T, van der Zande M. Comparison of gene expression and biotransformation activity of HepaRG cells under static and dynamic culture conditions. Sci Rep. 2021 May 14;11(1):10327. Abstract Flow conditions have been shown to be important in improving longevity and functionality of primary hepatocytes, but the impact of flow on HepaRG cells is largely unknown. We studied the expression of genes encoding CYP enzymes and transporter proteins and CYP1 and CYP3A4 activity during 8 weeks of culture in HepaRG cells cultured under static conditions (conventional 24-/96-well plate culture with common bicarbonate/CO2 buffering) and under flow conditions in an organ-on-chip (OOC) device. Since the OOC...