Human Nerve-on-a-Chip. Engineering 3D functional human peripheral nerve in vitro

Sharma, A. D.; McCoy, L.; Jacobs, E.; Willey, H.; Behn, J. Q.; Ngyuen, H.; Bolon, B.; Curley, J. L.; Moore, M. J.

doi:10.1101/458463

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/458463

Human Nerve-on-a-Chip. Engineering 3D functional human peripheral nerve in vitro

Sharma, A. D.·McCoy, L.·Jacobs, E.·Willey, H.·Behn, J. Q.·Ngyuen, H.·Bolon, B.·Curley, J. L.·Moore, M. J.

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Abstract

Development of \"organ-on-a-chip\" systems in the space of the nervous system is lagging because of lack of availability of human neuronal & glial cells and the structural complexity of the nervous system. Furthermore, a sizeable challenge in the drug development pipeline and an often-cited reason for failure in a vast number of clinical trials conducted for neuropathological ailments is the lack of translation from animal models. A preclinical in vitro model capable of mimicking the function and structure of the human nervous system is well desired. We present an in vitro biomimetic model of all-human peripheral nerve tissue capable of showing a robust neurite outgrowth (~5mm), myelination of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)-derived neurons by primary human Schwann cells and evaluation of nerve conduction velocity (NCV), previously unrealized for any human cell-based in vitro system. This Human Nerve-on-a-chip (HNoaC) system is the first microphysiological system of human peripheral nerve which can be used for evaluating electrophysiological and histological metrics, which are gold-standard assessment techniques previously only possible with in vivo studies.

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Sharma, A. D., McCoy, L., Jacobs, E., Willey, H., Behn, J. Q., Ngyuen, H., Bolon, B., Curley, J. L., Moore, M. J.. 2018-11-08. Human Nerve-on-a-Chip. Engineering 3D functional human peripheral nerve in vitro. https://doi.org/10.1101/458463

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