Researchers Mimic Pulmonary Edema in Lung-on-a-Chip (VIDEO)
Caption
The Wyss Institute’s human breathing lung-on-a-chip, made using human lung and blood vessel cells, acts much like a lung in a human body. A vacuum re-creates the way the lungs physically expand and contract during breathing. As reported in Science Translational Medicine on November 7, 2012, Wyss researchers have now mimicked a human disease -- pulmonary edema -- on the chip. They applied the cancer drug IL-2, which is known to cause pulmonary edema as a side effect. Pulmonary edema is a potentially fatal condition in which fluid leaks from the bloodstream into the lungs. The researchers first applied IL-2 without the vacuum on, and a small amount of leakage was detected. When they turned the vacuum on to mimic normal physiological breathing motions, however, the fluid leakage was worse -- completely filling the air space, as observed in human lungs.
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Wyss Institute, Harvard University
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