Pharmaceutics (Oct 2021)

Multi-Organs-on-Chips for Testing Small-Molecule Drugs: Challenges and Perspectives

  • Berivan Cecen,
  • Christina Karavasili,
  • Mubashir Nazir,
  • Anant Bhusal,
  • Elvan Dogan,
  • Fatemeh Shahriyari,
  • Sedef Tamburaci,
  • Melda Buyukoz,
  • Leyla Didem Kozaci,
  • Amir K. Miri

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/pharmaceutics13101657
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 10
p. 1657

Abstract

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Organ-on-a-chip technology has been used in testing small-molecule drugs for screening potential therapeutics and regulatory protocols. The technology is expected to boost the development of novel therapies and accelerate the discovery of drug combinations in the coming years. This has led to the development of multi-organ-on-a-chip (MOC) for recapitulating various organs involved in the drug–body interactions. In this review, we discuss the current MOCs used in screening small-molecule drugs and then focus on the dynamic process of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion. We also address appropriate materials used for MOCs at low cost and scale-up capacity suitable for high-performance analysis of drugs and commercial high-throughput screening platforms.

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