Microfluidic chip for culturing intestinal epithelial cell layers: Characterization and comparison of drug transport between dynamic and static models

Dynamic flow in vitro models are currently widely explored for their applicability in drug development research. The application of gut-on-chip models in toxicology is lagging behind. Here we report the application of a gut-on-chip model for biokinetic studies and compare the observed biokinetics of reference compounds with those obtained using a conventional static in vitro model. Intestinal epithelial Caco-2 cells were cultured on a porous membrane assembled between two glass flow chambers for the dynamic model, or on a porous membrane in a Transwell model. Confocal microscopy, lucifer yellow translocation, and alkaline phosphatase activity evaluation revealed that cells cultured in the gut-on-chip model formed tight, differentiated, polarized monolayers like in the static cultures. In the dynamic gut-on-chip model the transport of the high permeability compounds antipyrine, ketoprofen and digoxin was lower (i.e. 4.2-, 2.7- and 1.9-fold respectively) compared to the transport in the static Transwell model. The transport of the low permeability compound, amoxicillin, was similar in both the dynamic and static in vitro model. The obtained transport values of the compounds are in line with the compound Biopharmaceuticals Classification System. It is concluded that the gut-on-chip provides an adequate model for transport studies of chemicals. •Caco-2 cells grown in gut-on-chips form differentiated monolayers of enterocytes similar to their growth in Transwells.•Fluid flow affects the transport of high permeability compounds more than that of low permeability compounds.•Gut-on-chip can be used as a reliable in vitro intestinal transport model for compounds in different permeability classes.•The presented gut-on-chip model is considered an adequate model for in vitro transport studies of compounds.