Citizens for
Alternatives to Animal Research and Experimentation (CAARE)
September 2018
Despite decades of highly invasive animal experiments, no significant progress has been made to help human patients.... Researchers have developed an advanced brain-on-a chip, composed of a network of specialized chips, that simulates the complex interactions between the human brain and the blood-brain barrier.
The brain is an immensely complicated, essential organ. Understanding its
workings is crucial to curing a wide-range of debilitating diseases,
including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and other neurodegenerative diseases.
Yet, despite decades of highly invasive animal experiments, no significant
progress has been made to help human patients.
One of the hurdles in studying the brain has been understanding the
complexity of the blood-brain barrier, which operates as a biological
gatekeeper that selectively allows essential substances like glucose in,
while keeping harmful substances such as toxins out.
In an exciting breakthrough, an international collaboration of researchers,
led by Professor Ben Moaz at Tel Aviv University, has developed an advanced
brain-on-a chip, composed of a network of specialized chips, that simulates
the complex interactions between the human brain and the blood-brain
barrier.
The unique chips not only mimics the passage of fluids from the blood
vessels to the brain but also shows how blood vessels “communicate” with
neurons in the brain.
“The big breakthrough here is that not only have we created a new model
for studying the effects of drugs on the human brain, along the way we
teased out the communication networks between cells in a way that never
could have been done with traditional brain research techniques,” describes
Kit Parker, PhD, at Harvard.
As Dr. Moaz explains, “Despite the similarities, a simple mouse brain is not
a human brain. Moreover, neurodegenerative diseases are diseases
characteristic of humans.”
“The brain we have built in the laboratory enables us to examine complex
biological processes and the effect of drugs on humans without endangering
anyone, and without harming animals, in an efficient way.”
Dr. Maoz wants to take the chip technology further. “We are adding
additional organs, such as an immune system and liver, to finally build a
whole human body model on chips that will replace the need for animals in
the lab and will give researchers unprecedented resolutions on the effects
of various chemicals on the human brain – and the biological development of
various diseases unique to humans.”
The research was done in cooperation with colleagues from Harvard University, the Swedish Medical Nanoscience Center and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm.
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