肠芯片在宿主-微生物互作中的研究进展

Advances of gut-on-a-chip for exploring host-microbe interactions

摘要:

人体肠道是一个复杂的生态系统，富含多样的微生物群落，这些微生物群落在营养吸收、药物代谢和机体免疫等方面发挥着关键作用。随着微流控技术和器官芯片技术的不断发展，肠芯片已经成为模拟宿主-微生物互作的有力工具。这些微型化的生物系统能够在体外模拟人体肠道的复杂生理环境，为研究肠道微生物与宿主之间的相互作用提供了一个独特的平台。本文首先介绍了人体肠道的生理特点，总结了微流控器官芯片集成多细胞组分、生物流体、氧气梯度、机械力学等微环境因素在体外重塑肠道微生理系统的优势，阐述了衡量体外肠芯片构建成功与否的关键性能指标，并综述了芯片上的肠-微生物互作模型在肠道微生态研究、疾病模拟和药物评价方面的研究进展，最后讨论了其局限性和未来的发展趋势，以期为应用肠芯片深入研究肠道微生物与宿主的相互作用提供参考。

Abstract:

The human gut is a complex ecosystem harboring rich microbes that play a key role in the nutrient absorption, drug metabolism, and immune responses. With the continuous development of microfluidics and organ-on-a-chip, gut-on-a-chip has become a powerful tool for modeling host-microbe interactions. The chip is able to mimic the complex physiological environment of the human gut in vitro, providing a unique platform for studying host-microbe interactions. Firstly, we introduce the physiological characteristics of the human gut. Secondly, we comprehensively summarize the advantages of the microfluidic chip in vitro recapitulating the intestinal system by integrating microenvironmental factors, such as complex cell components, dynamic fluids, oxygen gradients, and mechanical mechanics. Thirdly, we expound the key performance indicators for evaluating the construction performance of gut-on-a-chip. In addition, we review the progress of gut-on-a-chip models in the research on gut microecology, disease modeling, and drug evaluation. Finally, we highlight the challenges and prospects in the applications of the emerging technology. The above is summarized with a view to informing the application of gut-on-a-chip for indepth studies of gut microbe-host interactions.