With the development of AI technology, "personalized medical care " has been frequently mentioned in recent years. The "precision", "efficient" and "intelligence" symbolized by "personalization" has made it an effective entry point for changing the status quo of the medical industry . For example, intelligent counseling interacts with patients, and intelligent monitoring equipment helps to track and personalize medical services. So, can personalized medicine be defined only by AI+ medical products? I am afraid it is not. Today, the intelligent theory of relativity (aixdlun) wants to talk to you about another layer of personalized medical technology - "organ chips."

Realized zero, true "personalized" medical

Speaking of personalized medicine, the first thing that comes to mind in our minds is gene therapy, which is a customized medical model based on personal genomic information and combined with relevant internal environmental information to design the best treatment plan for patients.

Although genetic testing and treatment can provide a basis for personalized medicine, there are also cases in which cancer detection and diabetes are detected through genetic testing, and then accurate medical treatment is used to delay the disease. However, from the development of genetic medicine, in addition to a few diseases, genes The association with disease is difficult to determine, such as "leak-frozen disease" (ALS). The data show that only a small percentage of ALS is associated with genetic defects, and 90% of sporadic cases are still unsolved.

Therefore, the inclusion of the entire genetic program of the human body in the reference of personalized medicine is actually not very reliable. At this time, the emergence of organ chips gave people new reference indicators.

The concept of "organ chip" has been around for a long time and was listed as one of the "Top Ten Emerging Technologies" by the Davos Forum in 2016. According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, organ chips refer to a physiological micro-system of organs built on a chip, which uses microfluidic chips as the core, and through various methods such as cell biology, biological materials and engineering. In combination, the micro-environment of tissues and organs containing complex factors such as living cells, functional tissue interfaces, biological fluids and mechanical stimulation can be simulated in vitro, reflecting the main structural and functional signs of human tissues and organs.

To put it simply, a simplified version of the biological tissues and organs in the human body is constructed in vitro, retaining only the characteristics of organ function and human pathobiological biology. The meaning of "organ chip" in personalized medicine is that the human body is reduced to zero, and the accurate diagnosis of "human body" is changed into an accurate diagnosis of "organ" to provide more effective and targeted treatment.

Through the use of patient-derived stem cells, the engineered construction of the induced pluripotent stem cell-derived organ model is achieved, making individualized disease risk prediction, drug efficacy evaluation, toxicological assessment and prognosis analysis more accurate. At present, scientists also use the stem cells of specific patients to construct functional heart tissue and simulate a model of hereditary heart disease.

In addition to the realization of personalized medicine for humans, there is also a clear benefit of organ chips, which is drug testing. At this point, changes to animal testing will be revolutionary.

People have always tried drugs through animals, and it is humane to test drugs regardless of animals. From the perspective of experimental accuracy, although the proportion of genes shared by animals and humans is as high as 99%, the remaining 1% still causes great variables, resulting in huge physiological differences between the two species. The same drug, the response in animals and humans may be quite different. Even small differences in expression will continue to magnify as the drug development process progresses, eventually leading to the failure of the entire project.

"Organic chip" is more effective for drug testing because it is closer to the human body. On October 11, Science Progress reported a 3D method for making neurons and muscle tissue on microfluidic chips. With this chip, scientists can try new drugs for "gradually frozen people."

Simulation, cost, connection... problems with organ chips

The concept of organ chips has been proposed for a long time, and the process of industrialization is very slow. Exploring the reasons can be roughly divided into three points.

First, even the most advanced organ chips do not fully represent the function of living organs. After all, all organs cannot be separated from the body alone. Although the transformation is zero and constructive, but the whole is greater than the part, relying only on organ chips can not replicate the disease body, especially the endocrine environment leads to a series of functional changes.

Therefore, we must consider the overall relevance of the human body. In this regard, we can use a single chip to form a highly integrated 3D tissue organ microfluidic chip system. The research team at Dalian University of Technology has developed a chip system consisting of a variety of modules stacked from top to bottom, integrating cells from the intestine, blood vessels, liver, tumor, heart, lungs, muscles and kidneys. Tissue, and there are "digestive juice", "blood" and "urine" running through it. In this way, the organ chip is like a building block. When all the building blocks are piled up, it is possible to create a "human body building" to the greatest extent, restore the functional environment of the human body, and achieve drug testing.

Second, organ chips are still a growing technology, and the immaturity of the industry chain will lead to increased costs. CNBio of Oxford used a chip containing 12 miniature livers to test the toxicity of the drug. The current price of a unit is 22,000, in US dollars. In fact, this price is much cheaper than animal testing, knowing that for the same experiment, the price of the mouse is $50000.

However, this so-called "low-cost" is placed in the process of industrialization, and it is still necessary to put a question mark. At present, organ chips are mostly used in scientific research, and research funding is sufficient to support the use of such tools. However, our hope for organ chips is to land on ordinary people's medical care. If organ chips are to be industrialized, Need to control costs. Of course, with the improvement of the industrial chain, its advantages will gradually become prominent, and the cost problem will be solved accordingly.

Prior to this, we may be able to use 3D printing technology as an important complement to the method of organ chip production. 3D printing technology will affect the organ chip in at least two aspects, one is chip preparation, and the other is bio-printing. Especially in chip preparation, 3D printing has been able to manufacture chips with high resolution and complex structure. It also has the advantages of short production cycle, simple unit operation and low cost. Harvard University Wyss Bioengineering Institute and Harvard John A. Researchers at the Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have used 3D printing to create the first complete organ chip with an integrated sensing system.

Finally, there is a widespread problem with microfluidic chips, that is, the connection between macroscopic samples and microchips is not easy. At present, the injection on the chip is mostly done by hand, the efficiency is low, the reliability is also poor, and it is easy to affect the vitality of the cells, which in turn affects the real-time detection of cell processes and biological characteristics. Therefore, we need to develop more assistance. Sex products, such as continuous injection systems, ensure automation, miniaturization and integration in preparation.

in conclusion:

Since the development of personalized medicine, many technical achievements have been accumulated. With the continuous development of technology, we have put forward more requirements for "personalization" and "precision". The significance of organ chips to human beings is that people can really "prescribe the right medicine" instead of "damaging" other organizations. organ. With the deepening of people's research, organ chip technology will be widely used in the research of life sciences, medicine, pharmacy and other fields, bringing more possibilities for personalized medicine.

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