Development of an in vitro co-culture model for retina-on-a-chip

Author

Suárez Arca, Inés  

Abstract

Vision is one of the most dominant senses in life that plays a major role in how we face our life. However, different diseases can cause the total or partial loss of it. Diseases such as age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, or uveitis are caused by alterations in the external blood-retinal barrier (oBRB) in the retina. The oBRB is composed of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), Bruch's membrane (BM), and the choroid. The objective of this work was to create a model of the oBRB on a microchip, also known as oBRB-on-a-chip. For this, different co-cultures of cells or EPR and endothelial cells were used, as well as different Coatings to mimic the BM for the performance of static and flow experiments.
The creation of an oBRB-on-a-chip model is a great advance for the future of eye diseases related to the retina since they allow to mimic the physiological conditions of the eye, include different cell lines and allow to expose the models in flow as representation. of blood flow. These models will make it possible to know how the barrier works in both physiological and pathological conditions and to investigate drugs for the treatment of retinal diseases. The results obtained are promising since it has been possible to build a model that allows the addition of flow and that maintains the structure of the co-culture after it. However, more research is needed to be able to contrast the results and create a definitive model.

Director

Martorell López, Jordi
Molins, Blanca  

Degree

IQS SE - Undergraduate Program in Biotechnology

Date

2020-09-08