Testing is one of the most difficult parts of medication development. Organ-On-A-Chip as they're known, typically consist of glass slides coated with human cells that have been programmed to resemble a certain tissue or interface between tissues.
The goal of drug developers is to accelerate the time it takes for pharmaceuticals to reach the market and, in some cases, do away with the necessity for animal testing altogether. Scientists are forced to either conduct studies on tiny cells of people found in tissue cultures, that have been modified to endure everlastingly and bear little resemblance to genuine living, breathing humans, or on animals in their entirety, which is costly, raises ethical questions, and could have unexpected effects in humans. They must be manufactured using a sophisticated, labor-intensive process that requires expensive machinery and skilled workers. Recent technological advancements in inexpensive 3D printing and laser engraving can defeat it.Organotypic brain slices are a microfluidic device-friendly in vitro model that simulates in vivo physiology with added throughput and visual advantages. The preservation of tissue architecture and the ability for multicellular interactions make brain slices superior to primary cell culture. Slices can be used acutely (in less than 6 hours after slice collection), or they can be cultured for a later experiment. Organotypic brain slices enable the investigation of long-term impacts since they may sustain survival for weeks.
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