Bone-on-a-chip for bone remodeling

• Grant number: 23/07574-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2023
• End date: March 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Chemistry of Macromolecules
• Principal Investigator: Willian Fernando Zambuzzi
• Grantee: Gabriela Rodrigues Rocha
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) technology consists of microfluidic devices for culturing cells that resemble tissues/organs on a physiological level. This technology has shown expectation for tissue engineering, biosensors, diagnosis and therapy, drug delivery and has gained special prominence in bioengineering and biomedical engineering research. Compared to animal models and 2D cell culture models, OoC enables efficient and physiologically relevant cell/tissue culture by creating tailored microenvironments and integrating sensors and stimulus sources. The Bone-on-a-chip model, which reproduces a microenvironment with key features of living bone tissue, aims to investigate the differentiation of cells essential for bone remodeling and to study the molecular switches involved in this process and provide conditions for the assay. of osteoclast movement within a period of up to 72 hours of cell culture. The inclusion of bone discs on the chip will tap into a bone microenvironment for metabolic and cellular activity, allowing observation of artificial holes created after bone matrix resorption. There is also the purpose of testing the addition of orthosilicic acid to aliquots to observe the modulation of osteoclast activity. The chip will be manufactured using 3D printing technology and will consist of a rectangular model with space for three wells for three slices of bone. After manufacturing, tests will be carried out to verify the efficiency of liquid transfer within the system that will be observed through electron microscopy and then, bone cells will be cultivated in the system in the presence of bone slices.