The current lack of knowledge about the effect of maternally administered drugs on the developing fetus is a major public health concern worldwide. The first critical step toward predicting the safety of medications in pregnancy is to screen drug compounds for their ability to cross the placenta. However, this type of preclinical study has been hampered by the limited capacity of existing in vitro and ex vivo models to mimic physiological drug transport across the maternal–fetal interface in the human placenta. Here the proof‐of‐principle for utilizing a microengineered model of the human placental barrier to simulate and investigate drug transfer from the maternal to the fetal circulation is demonstrated. Using the gestational diabetes drug glyburide as a model compound, it is shown that the microphysiological system is capable of reconstituting efflux transporter‐mediated active transport function of the human placental barrier to limit fetal exposure to maternally administered drugs. The data provide evidence that the placenta‐on‐a‐chip may serve as a new screening platform to enable more accurate prediction of drug transport in the human placenta.

中文翻译：

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胎盘药物在芯片上的运输：在人胎盘屏障中由转运蛋白介导的药物外排的微工程体外模型。

当前缺乏关于母体给药药物对发育中的胎儿的影响的知识是世界范围内的主要公共卫生问题。预测妊娠期药物安全性的关键性第一步是筛查药物化合物穿过胎盘的能力。然而，这种类型的临床前研究由于现有的体外和离体模型在人体胎盘中通过母体-胎儿界面模拟生理性药物运输的能力有限而受到阻碍。这里展示了利用人胎盘屏障的微工程模型来模拟和研究药物从母体向胎儿循环转移的原理证明。使用妊娠糖尿病药物格列本脲作为模型化合物，结果表明，微生理系统能够重构人胎盘屏障的外排转运蛋白介导的主动转运功能，从而限制胎儿对母体给药药物的暴露。数据提供了证据，表明芯片上的胎盘可以用作新的筛查平台，从而能够更准确地预测人类胎盘中的药物转运。