Here, we present a physiologically relevant model of the human pulmonary alveoli. This alveolar lung-on-a-chip platform is composed of a three-dimensional porous hydrogel made of gelatin methacryloyl with an inverse opal structure, bonded to a compartmentalized polydimethylsiloxane chip. The inverse opal hydrogel structure features well-defined, interconnected pores with high similarity to human alveolar sacs. By populating the sacs with primary human alveolar epithelial cells, functional epithelial monolayers are readily formed. Cyclic strain is integrated into the device to allow biomimetic breathing events of the alveolar lung, which, in addition, makes it possible to investigate pathological effects such as those incurred by cigarette smoking and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pseudoviral infection. Our study demonstrates a unique method for reconstitution of the functional human pulmonary alveoli in vitro, which is anticipated to pave the way for investigating relevant physiological and pathological events in the human distal lung.

在这里，我们提出了人类肺泡的生理相关模型。这种肺泡肺芯片平台由具有反蛋白石结构的甲基丙烯酰明胶制成的三维多孔水凝胶组成，与分隔的聚二甲基硅氧烷芯片结合。反蛋白石水凝胶结构具有轮廓分明、相互连接的孔隙，与人类肺泡囊高度相似。通过用原代人肺泡上皮细胞填充囊，很容易形成功能性上皮单层。循环应变集成到设备中以允许肺泡肺的仿生呼吸事件，此外，这还可以研究吸烟和严重急性呼吸系统综合症冠状病毒 2 假病毒感染等引起的病理影响。