New microfluidic chip replicates muscle-nerve connection

MIT engineers have developed a microfluidic device that replicates the neuromuscular junction — the vital connection where nerve meets muscle.

The device, about the size of a U.S. quarter, contains a single muscle strip and a small set of motor neurons. Researchers can influence and observe the interactions between the two, within a realistic, three-dimensional matrix.

The researchers genetically modified the neurons in the device to respond to light. By shining light directly on the neurons, they can precisely stimulate these cells, which in turn send signals to excite the muscle fiber. The researchers also measured the force the muscle exerts within the device as it twitches or contracts in response.

The team’s results, published online today in Science Advances, may help scientists understand and identify drugs to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, as well as other neuromuscular-related conditions.

“The neuromuscular junction is involved in a lot of very incapacitating, sometimes brutal and fatal disorders, for which a lot has yet to be discovered,” says Sebastien Uzel, who led the work as a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. “The hope is, being able to form neuromuscular junctions in vitro will help us understand how certain diseases function.”

Uzel’s coauthors include Roger Kamm, the Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Mechanical and Biological Engineering at MIT, along with former graduate student and now postdoc Randall Platt, research scientist Vidya Subramanian, former undergraduate researcher Taylor Pearl, senior postdoc Christopher Rowlands, former postdoc Vincent Chan, associate professor of biology Laurie Boyer, and professor of mechanical engineering and biological engineering Peter So.

 

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