Multiorgan-on-a-Chip: A Systemic Approach To Model and Decipher Inter-Organ Communication.

Multiorgan-on-a-chip (multi-OoC) platforms have great potential to redefine the way in which human health research is conducted. After briefly reviewing the need for comprehensive multiorgan models with a systemic dimension, we highlight scenarios in which multiorgan models are advantageous. We next overview existing multi-OoC platforms, including integrated body-on-a-chip devices and modular approaches involving interconnected organ-specific modules. We highlight how multi-OoC models can provide unique information that is not accessible using single-OoC models. Finally, we discuss remaining challenges for the realization of multi-OoC platforms and their worldwide adoption. We anticipate that multi-OoC technology will metamorphose research in biology and medicine by providing holistic and personalized models for understanding and treating multisystem diseases. Multiorgan-on-a-chip (multi-OoC) devices, by supporting cross-organ communication, allow the study of multiorgan processes and modeling of systemic diseases. Multi-OoC approaches provide new insights that would be lost using single-OoC models. Various coupling configurations have been proposed for building multi-OoC platforms, and these present different levels of user-friendliness. Multi-OoC platforms have the potential to transform medical research by opening new avenues for understanding multiorgan diseases and for developing personalized treatments. To further emulate the complexity of the human system in vivo , key elements of the immune, nervous, and vascular systems are being integrated into multi-OoC models. The next generation of multi-OoCs will incorporate multimodal and real-time readouts in the form of on-chip chemical, physical, and molecular sensors, as well as online multiomic analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]