[Zurück]

H Zirath, M. Rothbauer, B. Müller, T. Mayr, P. Ertl:
"Development of a Microfluidic Nanotoxicological-Screening System";
Vortrag: International Conference Analytical Cytometry IX, Tschechische Republik; 14.10.2017 - 17.10.2017.

Nanoparticles represent a growing area in industry and medicine due to their novel and distinguished properties. In healthcare, nanoparticles are applied in areas such as targeted drug delivery, diagnostics and regenerative medicine. However, possible toxic health effects associated with human exposure are unknown and therefore toxicological testing is recommended for all nanomaterials to evaluate potential hazardous effects. The conventional methods for safety testing of nanomaterials includes in vivo animal models. However, animal testing are time and cost intensive and the genetic differences between humans and e.g. rodents decreases the validity of the tests. Cell-based screening platforms for investigation of nanotoxicity has the potential to replace the conventional in vivo animal models. The drawback of these systems are the static condition of the exposure which can lead to aggregation of nanoparticles, and thereby affect the stability and varying the cellular dosage. In recent years, microfluidic platforms are emerging as a promising technology for high throughput toxicology screening. With microfluidics, conditions such as flow rate, temperature, shear stress and delivery of nanoparticles can be precisly controlled. Due to the miniaturization, microfluidics is reducing the consumptions of sample, media and cells, but also enables a precise control of the fluidic and enables a high-throughput. By using system-integrated valves, pumps and gradient generators, microfluidic has the potential to further reduce the cost of the method compared to the robotic systems used with microplate systems. However, there is a lack of technology for real-time non-invasive control of nanotoxicity exposure. We are developing a microfluidic live-cell screening system with integrated optical O2 and pH sensors for an in situ analyzing of nanotoxicity of different nanomaterials. Cells of different cell lines are cultured inside microfluidic chambers, representing the organs which nanoparticles are passing or aggregating after exposure. The sensors are label free and enables therefore a continuous monitoring of the cell-nanoparticle interaction during the entire exposure time. With this system, we are aiming to develop the next generation microfluidic live-cell assays for medium and high throughput nanotoxicity testing.