SCoPE - BCcampus Learning + Teaching

🔹 What is the Gut-Liver Chip Model for Microbial Metabolite Evaluation?

The Gut-Liver Chip Model is an organ-on-a-chip platform that connects intestinal and hepatic microphysiological systems to simulate host-microbe interactions and microbial metabolite processing.

It allows researchers to study how gut microbiota-derived metabolites are absorbed, metabolized by the liver, and influence host physiology or drug metabolism, providing a physiologically relevant alternative to conventional in vitro or animal models.

🔹 Key Features

• Microfluidic Co-Culture:

  • Gut epithelium (Caco-2, organoids, or primary intestinal cells) connected to hepatocytes (primary or iPSC-derived) via microchannels.

• Dynamic Flow Conditions:

  • Mimics peristalsis, fluid shear, and nutrient/drug flow between gut and liver compartments.

• Microbial Metabolite Integration:

  • Supports co-culture with microbial consortia or addition of specific metabolites.

• Multi-Parameter Readouts:

  • Absorption and metabolism of microbial metabolites.

  • Cytokine release and barrier integrity (TEER).

  • Hepatic enzyme activity and toxicity markers.

🔹 Applications

• Metabolic Studies:

  • Evaluate production, absorption, and liver metabolism of short-chain fatty acids, bile acids, or other microbial metabolites.

• Drug-Microbiome Interaction:

  • Assess how microbial metabolites influence drug metabolism, efficacy, or toxicity.

• Disease Modeling:

  • Simulate gut-liver axis disorders (e.g., NAFLD, NASH, microbiome-driven inflammation).

• Therapeutic Screening:

  • Test probiotics, prebiotics, or microbial-derived compounds for metabolic or immunomodulatory effects.

✅ In summary:
The Gut-Liver Chip Model for Microbial Metabolite Evaluation provides a physiologically relevant, high-throughput platform to study absorption, hepatic metabolism, and host responses to microbial metabolites, supporting drug discovery, microbiome research, and gut-liver axis studies.