Investigation of absorption, metabolism and toxicity of ginsenosides compound K based on human organ chips

Organ-on-a-chip as a new technology distinguishes it from animal and cel l models at least in three aspects: (1) it responds to drugs' efficacy or toxicity more really by mimicking the human body's fluid microenvironment; (2) it can be used for high throughput screening a large number of compounds; (3) it has physiological accuracy. It is we l l known that ginsenosides compound K (CK) as a carbohydrate drug has numerous biological activities and physiological functions. However, pharmacokinetic studies of carbohydrate-based C K haven't been performed on organ chips. Here, we established and evaluated the function of single-organ chips and multi-organ chips based on intestinal , vascular, liver, and kidney chips. Each single-organ-on-a-chip performed itsel f wel l . Based on organ-on-chips, absorption, metabolism and toxicity of CK were successfully investigated. The pharmacokinetic results of CK provided by chip were consistent with previous reports, demonstrating the reliabilit y of the organon-a-chip platform and its potential for use in pharmacokinetic studies of carbohydrate-drugs. As far as we know, this study would be the first report on the pharmacological investigation of carbohydrate drugs on organ-on-achip, which provides a theoretical basis for carbohydrate-based drug discovery.