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MICROPHYSIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

Human-gut-microbiome on a chip

Nature Biomedical Engineering volume 3, pages 500–501 (2019)Cite this article

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A microfluidic chip incorporating oxygen gradients, a diverse human microbiota and patient-derived cells, mimics interactions between microorganisms and host tissue in the human gut.

Recent evidence that microbiota inhabiting the gut play key roles in human health and disease has fuelled research into deciphering host–microorganism interactions. In human studies, the manipulation and control of experimental variables, such as host and microbial genetics, diet, and other environmental factors, is difficult. Studying the direct interactions between human gut microbiota and the host tissue also remains challenging. Faecal samples can be obtained easily, but this is not the case for intestinal aspirates and biopsies1. Many effects of the gut microbiota are manifested at specific locations in the gut (such as at sites of inflammation), and probably change over time2,3. However, in situ measurements of both the microbiota and the host responses, at sufficiently high temporal and spatial resolution (on the order of hours and centimetres, respectively), are not currently possible in humans. Animal models, which offer advantages such as a similar gastrointestinal architecture, straightforward sample collection, and finer control over diet and genetics4, cannot currently be interrogated via in situ measurements at the necessary temporal and spatial resolutions either, nor do they perfectly recapitulate human disease5. Reporting in Nature Biomedical Engineering, Donald Ingber and colleagues now describe an in vitro system that mimics the host–microorganism interactions in the human intestine. By taking advantage of a previously reported microphysiological intestine-on-a-chip6, the researchers established an oxygen gradient across the endothelium–epithelium–lumen axis to co-culture human endothelial and epithelial cells together with a diverse human-derived microbiota, consisting of both aerobes and anaerobes, for at least five days7. The microbial diversity and extended duration of co-culture enabled by the chip could be leveraged to study host–microorganism crosstalk.

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Fig. 1: Human-gut-microbiome on a chip.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Roberta Poceviciute & Rustem F. Ismagilov

  2. Division of Biology & Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Rustem F. Ismagilov

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  1. Roberta Poceviciute
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  2. Rustem F. Ismagilov
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Correspondence to Rustem F. Ismagilov.

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Poceviciute, R., Ismagilov, R.F. Human-gut-microbiome on a chip. Nat Biomed Eng 3, 500–501 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-019-0425-0

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