The concept of physiological link between the gut and the skin, known as the gut-skin axis, has been gaining more evidence recently. Although experimental data from animal and human studies support the existence of the gut-skin axis, in vitro model platforms that can test the hypothesis are lacking. Organ-on-a-chip offers the possibility of connecting different tissues and recapitulating interactions between them. In this study, we report a multiorgan chip that can capture the basic interorgan communication between the gut and the skin. Its modular design enables separate culture and differentiation of the gut and skin tissues, and after assembly the two organs are connected via microfluidic channels than enables perfusion and mass transfer. We showed that the impairment of the gut barrier function exacerbated the adverse effect of fatty acids on skin cells, with decreased viability, increased level of cytokine secretion and human beta defensin-2 (hBD-2), an inflammatory dermal disease marker. Based on these results, we believe that our multiorgan chip can be a novel in vitro platform for recapitulating complex mechanisms underlying the gut-skin axis.

中文翻译：

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用于实现肠-皮轴的多器官芯片

肠道和皮肤之间的生理联系概念，即肠道-皮肤轴，最近获得了更多证据。尽管来自动物和人类研究的实验数据支持肠-皮轴的存在，但缺乏可以检验该假设的体外模型平台。器官芯片提供了连接不同组织并概括它们之间相互作用的可能性。在这项研究中，我们报告了一种多器官芯片，可以捕获肠道和皮肤之间的基本器官间通讯。其模块化设计可实现肠道和皮肤组织的单独培养和分化，组装后两个器官通过微流体通道连接，从而实现灌注和传质。我们发现，肠道屏障功能的损害加剧了脂肪酸对皮肤细胞的不利影响，使皮肤细胞活力降低，细胞因子分泌水平增加，人 β 防御素-2 (hBD-2) 是一种炎症性皮肤病标志物。基于这些结果，我们相信我们的多器官芯片可以成为一个新的体外平台，用于概括肠道-皮肤轴背后的复杂机制。