A new tissue-agnostic microfluidic device to model physiology and disease: the lattice platform
Hannes Campo, Didi Zha, Pawat Pattarawat, Jose A. Colina, Delong Zhang, Alina R Murphy, Julia Yoon, Angela Russo, Hunter B. Rogers, Hoi Chang Lee, Jiyang Zhang, K. Trotter, S.R. Wagner, A. Ingram, Mary Ellen Pavone, Sara F. Dunne, Christina E. Boots, Margrit Urbanek, Shuo Xiao, Joanna E. Burdette, Teresa K. Woodruff, Julie Kim
Abstract
. However, cost and engineering complexity are two main factors that hinder the adoption of these technologies and incorporation into standard laboratory workflows. We developed LATTICE, a plug-and-play microfluidic platform able to house up to eight large tissue or organ models that can be cultured individually or in an interconnected fashion. The functionality of the platform to model both healthy and diseased tissue states was demonstrated using 3D cultures of reproductive tissues including murine ovarian tissues and human fallopian tube explants (hFTE). When exogenously exposed to pathological doses of gonadotropins and androgens to mimic the endocrinology of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), subsequent ovarian follicle development, hormone production and ovulation copied key features of this endocrinopathy. Further, hFTE cilia beating decreased significantly only when experiencing continuous media exchanges. We were then able to endogenously recreate this phenotype on the platform by dynamically co-culturing the PCOS ovary and hFTE. LATTICE was designed to be customizable with flexibility in 3D culture formats and can serve as a powerful automated tool to enable the study of tissue and cellular dynamics in health and disease in all fields of research.