Polylactic acid, a sustainable, biocompatible, transparent substrate material for Organ-On-Chip, and Microfluidic applications
AbstractOrgan-on-chips are miniaturised devices aiming at replacing animal models for drug discovery, toxicology and studies of complex biological phenomena. The field of Organ-On-Chip has grown exponentially, and has led to the formation of companies providing commercial Organ-On-Chip devices. Yet, it may be surprising to learn that the majority of these commercial devices are made from Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone elastomer that is widely used in microfluidic prototyping, but which has been proven difficult to use in industrial settings and poses a number of challenges to experimentalists, including leaching of uncured oligomers and uncontrolled adsorption of small compounds. T…
Layered Double Hydroxides: A Toolbox for Chemistry and Biology
Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) are an emergent class of biocompatible inorganic lamellar nanomaterials that have attracted significant research interest owing to their high surface-to-volume ratio, the capability to accumulate specific molecules, and the timely release to targets. Their unique properties have been employed for applications in organic catalysis, photocatalysis, sensors, drug delivery, and cell biology. Given the widespread contemporary interest in these topics, time-to-time it urges to review the recent progresses. This review aims to summarize the most recent cutting-edge reports appearing in the last years. It firstly focuses on the application of LDHs as catalysts in re…
Polylactic is a Sustainable, Low Absorption, Low Autofluorescence Alternative to Other Plastics for Microfluidic and Organ-on-Chip Applications
Organ-on-chip (OOC) devices are miniaturized devices replacing animal models in drug discovery and toxicology studies. The majority of OOC devices are made from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), an elastomer widely used in microfluidic prototyping, but posing a number of challenges to experimentalists, including leaching of uncured oligomers and uncontrolled absorption of small compounds. Here we assess the suitability of polylactic acid (PLA) as a replacement material to PDMS for microfluidic cell culture and OOC applications. We changed the wettability of PLA substrates and demonstrated the functionalization method to be stable over a time period of at least 9 months. We successfully cultured …