In vitro microfluidics-based blood-brain barrier model with in-line teer measurement

Abstract

Transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER) is a non-invasive quantitative method to monitor the integrity of tight junction status in the in vivo or in vitro barrier function models. It has the benefits to display the cell culture condition. However, its measuring device could only apply to Transwell. For comparison with the traditional in vitro models, there is an urgent need to apply the TEER measurement to the organ-on-chips system, which resembles the cell living condition in vitro. We demonstrate a low-cost 2D BBB-on-chip model with gold-sputtered nickel needle as the electrodes for TEER measurement. A MEMS-based microchannel was fabricated with electrodes integrated. After the cell seeding on the chip, the medium was injected continuously to mimic the hydrodynamic shear stress. We describe the shear stress effect on the cell morphology, growing orientation and the TEER measurement result. The organ-on-chips system with TEER measurement will offer a better experiment platform for further drug delivery development.