Fig. 3

Human organs-on-chips for assessing the transport efficiency of NPs. a A schematic of the normal capillaries surrounding the vessel wall and the atherosclerosis microenvironment with surrounding permeable vasculature (left). A schematic of a microfluidic device (right) in which the NPs are introduced into the upper microchannel, and the translocation of NPs is measured in the lower microchannel. Reproduced with permission [76]. Copyright 2014, National Academy of Sciences. USA. b Schematics of the in vivo solid tumor (left), tumor microenvironment composed of capillary and lymphatic microvessels (middle), and the tumor microenvironment-on-chip (right). NPs are introduced into the capillary channel and they transport to the lymphatic vessels through the tumor channel, mimicking the permeable microvessels in atherosclerosis. Reproduced with permission [77]. Copyright 2014, Elsevier