Organ-on-a-Chip Technology for Reproducing Multiorgan Physiology

In the drug development process, the accurate prediction of drug efficacy and toxicity is important in order to reduce the cost, labor, and effort involved. For this purpose, conventional 2D cell culture models are used in the early phase of drug development. However, the differences between the in vitro and the in vivo systems have caused the failure of drugs in the later phase of the drug-development process. Therefore, there is a need for a novel in vitro model system that can provide accurate information for evaluating the drug efficacy and toxicity through a closer recapitulation of the in vivo system. Recently, the idea of using microtechnology for mimicking the microscale tissue environment has become widespread, leading to the development of organ-on-a-chip. Furthermore, the system is further developed for realizing a multiorgan model for mimicking interactions between multiple organs. These advancements are still ongoing and are aimed at ultimately developing body-on-a-chip or human-on-a-chip devices for predicting the response of the whole body. This review summarizes recently developed organ-on-a-chip technologies, and their applications for reproducing multiorgan functions.