Discover how MPS technology is revolutionizing cardiac disease modeling and drug testing with advanced precision injection molding techniques. 

We’re excited to share our latest interview between PDC and Arizona State University (ASU) featuring Dr. Nikkhah, Shaun Wootten, and Ronin Komarnisky, where we explore the transformative benefits of using Micro-Physiological Systems (MPS) for heart models. Discover how MPS technology is revolutionizing cardiac disease modeling and drug testing with advanced precision injection molding techniques. 

Please describe the benefits of using an MPS system for a heart model.  

As a whole, Micro-physiological systems serve as a platform for studying both healthy and diseased human tissues and organs. Micro-physiological systems offer several advantages over traditional 2D monolayer culture assays and animal models, especially in regard to cardiac disease modeling and drug testing. The use of animal models in cardiovascular disease modeling, while significant, poses ethical concerns. Moreover, there are critical physiological differences between humans and animal models that make preclinical findings in animal models difficult to translate to humans. The use of 2D cell culture assays in cardiovascular disease modeling is also limited due to their inherent simplicity and inability to recapitulate native tissue structures. Micro-physiological systems can enable the successful formation of complex 3D and organotypic tissue architectures that can incorporate multiple cell types, such as cardiomyocytes, cardiac fibroblasts, and vascular endothelial cells, to more accurately mimic native human heart tissue structures. Micro-features can also be incorporated into these systems to enhance cardiac tissue formation, and these systems can be used to recapitulate various cardiac functions and phenotypes such as contractility, calcium transients, electrical conductivity, gene expression, and so forth.  

Additionally, the use of Micro-physiological systems in cardiovascular modeling enables precise control over the cellular microenvironment and diffusion gradients such as drugs and chemicals. The use of Micro-physiological systems is also cost-efficient as these systems require a low quantity of cells and reagents for experimental studies. With respect to future applications, there is a growing interest in using cardiovascular Micro-physiological systems for drug-disease modeling on cardiotoxicity and immunotherapy. Overall, these systems can be used to create patient-specific, healthy, and diseased heart models in which underlying molecular pathways can be studied to understand disease progression and identify potential therapeutics.  

What trends do you see as future trends in the industry? 

As Micro-physiological systems mature, their applications in disease modeling, personalized medicine, and pharmaceutical drug development have been rapidly expanding. As a result, there will likely be an emphasis placed on creating Micro-physiological systems that can be easily scaled-up for high throughput manufacturing. Currently, the majority of Micro-physiological technologies are developed around a single organ or tissue region of interest. Micro-physiological systems will likely advance to integrate multiple organ models, which will require more comprehensive platforms that may be difficult to achieve using conventional silicon polymers like polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Micro-physiological systems will also be designed in parallel with AI and machine learning in performing and automating data analysis and detecting cellular and morphological changes. 

What specific challenges have you encountered in designing and developing micro-physiological Systems, and how can PDC’s precision injection molding capabilities help address these issues? 

PDC has an excellent team of engineers that actively collaborate with their customers to achieve high-quality products that meet their customers’ goals. PDC’s knowledge of precision injection molding is invaluable, especially when designing a product for large scale manufacturability. Micro-physiological systems contain complex, intricate channels and micro-features that allow for accurate recapitulation of the organ or tissue region of interest. Translating from traditional fabrication methods, which rely on the use of PDMS or silicone polymers, to a thermoplastic platform comes at risk of losing these critical features. During our design for the manufacturing process, PDC’s team provided crucial and excellent feedback to ensure that our design maintained the quality and performance of its microchannels and micro-features while considering the manufacturing constraints of precision injection molding. Additionally, our Micro-physiological system required optical transparency, low autofluorescence, and biocompatibility for cell culture. PDC’s expertise in thermoplastic polymers directed us to a thermoplastic material that met all these requirements in addition to providing structural integrity.