title: Microfluidic Chip for Site-Specific Neuropharmacological Treatment and Activity Probing of 3D Neuronal "Optonet" Cultures.
abstract: The study introduces a "brain-on-a-chip" microfluidic platform that hosts brain-like 3D cultures ("optonets") whose activity and responses to flowing drugs are recorded optically. Optonets are viable, optically accessible 3D neural networks whose characteristics approximate cortical networks. The results demonstrate the ability to monitor complex 3D activity patterns during extended site-specific, reversible neuropharmacogical exposure, suggesting an interesting potential in drug screening.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marom
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Sanjeev Kumar
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Mahto
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Erez
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shor
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Janna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tenenbaum-Katan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Josué
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sznitman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, 32000, Israel.
authors.forename: Shy
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shoham
mesh_terms: D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002217:Carbachol / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate / Q000737:chemistry; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate; D002217:Carbachol; D002118:Calcium
keywords: 3D cultures; calcium imaging; carbachol; drug screening; optogenetics