WASHINGTON: Researchers, including one of Indian-origin, have created a 'heart-on-a-chip' loaded with human cardiac muscle cells that mimic the real organ to serve as a novel tool to screen medicines. Researchers developed a network of pulsating cardiac muscle cells housed in an inch-long silicone de-vice that effectively models human heart tissue, and they have demonstrated the viability of this system as a drug-screening tool by testing it with cardiovascular medications.

This organ-on-a-chip represents a major step forward in the development of accurate, faster methods of testing for drug toxicity, researchers said. "Ultimately, these chips could replace the use of animals to screen drugs for safety and efficacy," said professor Kevin Healy from the University of California, Berkeley. The authors noted a high failure rate associated with the use of non-human animal models to predict human reactions to new drugs.

"It takes about 5 billion on average to develop a drug, and 60% of that figure comes from upfront costs in the research and development phase. Using a well-designed model of a human organ could significantly cut the cost and time of bringing a new drug to market," said Healy.

The heart cells were derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells, the adult stem cells that can be coaxed to become many different types of tissue. Researchers designed their heart-on-a-chip so that its 3D structure would be comparable to the geometry and spacing of connective tissue fibre in a human heart.

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Drug testing on heart-on-a-chip gets a step closer