Transwell-based microfluidic platform for high-resolution imaging of airway tissues
Novel microfluidic platform for cultivation of transwell-based lung tissues provides the possibility to alternate between air–liquid interfaces for culturing and liquid–liquid interfaces for imaging. Platform enables tissue cultivation and analysis under standardized well plate conditions.
Transwell-based airway models have become increasingly important in studying the effects of respiratory diseases and drug treatment at the air–liquid interface of the lung epithelial barrier. A novel microfluidic platform for the cultivation of transwell-based lung tissues was developed, which enables to alternate between an air–liquid interface for culturing and a liquid–liquid interface for imaging of the tissue at high spatiotemporal resolution (A. Kurmashev, J. Boos, et al. "Transwell-based microfluidic platform for high-resolution imaging of airway tissues", Adv. Mater. Technol. 2024, Article 2400326). The plastics-based microfluidic platform enables insertion and recuperation of the transwell inserts and tissue cultivation and analysis under standardized well plate conditions.
The device was used to monitor infections of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in human stem-cell-derived bronchial epithelial tissue. The progression of a P. aeruginosa infection could be continuously imaged in real-time at high resolution, which provided insights into bacterial spreading and invasion on the apical tissue surface, as well as insights into tissue breaching and destruction over time. The developed microfluidic airway tissue culture system is a powerful tool to visualize and elucidate key processes of developing respiratory diseases and to facilitate drug testing and development.