Multilayered Microfluidic Device for Controllable Flow Perfusion of Gut-Liver on a Chip

Gut-liver-on-chip is useful as an in vitro model to predict drug absorption and metabolism, and to elucidate physiological mechanisms. While understanding of complex gut-live interactions requires both physiologically relevant medium perfusions and organotypic structure, none of the gut-liver-on-chip filling above requirements have been realized in a single chip. Here, we report a novel multilayered microfluidic device to reproduce the gut-liver interaction. To realize the physiological environment in vivo more realistically, compartmentalized perfusable cell chambers with a porous membrane and on-chip micropump were monolithically embedded in a single chip by means of multilayer soft lithography. Our experiments highlight that the present device can improve cell viabilities and recapitulate the gut-liver interaction, which allow to obtain deeper insights into the underlying liver disease.