Measuring barrier function in organ-on-chips with cleanroom-free integration of multiplexable electrodes.

Transepithelial/transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) measurements can be applied in organ-on-chips (OoCs) to estimate the barrier properties of a tissue or cell layer in a continuous, non-invasive, and label-free manner. Assessing the barrier integrity in in vitro models is valuable for studying and developing barrier targeting drugs. Several systems for measuring the TEER have been shown, but each of them having their own drawbacks. This article presents a cleanroom-free fabrication method for the integration of platinum electrodes in a polydimethylsiloxane OoC, allowing the real-time assessment of the barrier function by employing impedance spectroscopy. The proposed method and electrode arrangement allow visual inspection of the cells cultured in the device at the site of the electrodes, and multiplexing of both the electrodes in one OoC and the number of OoCs in one device. The effectiveness of our system is demonstrated by lining the OoC with intestinal epithelial cells, creating a gut-on-chip, where we monitored the formation, as well as the disruption and recovery of the cell barrier during a 21 day culture period. The application is further expanded by creating a blood-brain-barrier, to show that the proposed fabrication method can be applied to monitor the barrier formation in the OoC for different types of biological barriers.

Rhabdomyoma of the Larynx in a Child with Recurrent Airway Problems.

Rhabdomyoma is a rare benign tumor formed from striated muscle tissue and according to the literature occurs quite rarely in the larynx. We present a case of a rhabdomyoma of the larynx in a 5-year-old boy with recurrent airway problems. An extracardiac juvenile rhabdomyoma is extremely rarely found in the field of otorhinolaryngology. In this report, we presented the diagnostic and therapeutic features of this tumor with the review of the literature.

High-throughput production of silk fibroin-based electrospun fibers as biomaterial for skin tissue engineering applications.

In this work, a nozzle-free electrospinning device was built to obtain high-throughput production of silk fibroin-based biocompatible composite fibers with tunable wettability. Synthetic biomaterials tend to present suboptimal cell growth and proliferation, with many studies linking this phenomenon to the hydrophobicity of such surfaces. In this study, electrospun mats consisting of Poly(caprolactone) blended with variant forms of Poly(glycerol sebacate) (PGS) and regenerated silk fibroin were fabricated. The main aim of this work was the development of fiber mats with tunable hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity properties depending on the esterification degree and concentration of PGS. A variation of the conventional protocol used for the extraction of silk fibroin from Bombyx mori cocoons was employed, achieving significantly increased yields of the protein, in a third of the time required via the conventional extraction protocol. By altering the surface properties of the electrospun membranes, the trinary composite biomaterial presented good in vitro fibroblast attachment behavior and optimal growth, indicating the potential of such constructs towards the development of an artificial skin-like platform that can aid wound healing and skin regeneration.

Gelatin/potato starch edible biocomposite films: Correlation between morphology and physical properties.

The paper presents the results of studies of the microstructure morphology and the operational properties of the gelatin/potato starch/glycerol edible biocomposite films varying in the starch content from 0 to 50wt% prepared by casting film-forming solution and dying at 36°C for 15h. The biocomposite films were shown phase separated heterogeneous morphology with the gelatin matrix as a continuous phase and microgranules of starch as a minor phase. It is found that when the starch content ≤ 30wt% the phase separation mechanism is nucleation and grow, whereas the starch content > 30wt% then the spinodal decomposition is the dominant mechanism. The work focuses on findings the influence of the phase separation mechanisms on the size of starch granules during the drying process, as well as the impact of these mechanisms on optical, frictional, mechanical, thermal and water-barrier properties.