Integrated biocircuits: engineering functional multicellular circuits and devices.

Integrated biocircuits: engineering functional multicellular circuits and devices.

J Neural Eng. 2018 Jan 19;:

Authors: Prox J, Smith T, Holl C, Chehade N, Guo L

Abstract
Novel in vitro platforms are currently revolutionizing the study and reconstruction of cellular circuitry to bypass the pertaining obstacles of data retrieval in vivo. While earlier approaches have provided great insights into culturing circuits in planar dissociated cell culture systems, the lack of full control over network activity and formation limits our understanding of their functionality. Thus, integrating various controllable parameters are required in creating a suitable microenvironment including cell patterning, highly-specified electrical and chemical stimuli, and rational circuit formation via logic functions. Recent advancements in organoid and 3D culture systems account for another major microenvironment factor of cytoarchitecture to construct multicellular circuits as they are normally formed in the brain and other neural structures and compare them to disease models to identify the underlying principles of pathology. This perspective focuses on exploring the current state of the art of living multicellular device technologies to provide knowledge of the advancements of the fabrication processes and identify the current biological principles that are applied in designing these devices. It then provides perspectives and proposes new insights into the future of these devices within the scope of living cellular devices that can be applied in designing more reliable and biocompatible stimulation-based neuroprosthetics.

PMID: 29350183 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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