Chip simulates metabolism of medicine in human body

April 24, 2009
Chip simulates metabolism of medicine in human body

Enlarge

Photograph and diagram of the chip showing the inlets and outlets for fluids, the W-shaped fluid channel and the different electrodes.

(PhysOrg.com) -- A tiny electrochemical cell, developed by researchers of the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, The Netherlands, is able to mimick the behaviour of medicine inside a human body. This chip is presented in the journal Lab on a Chip.

How a medicine reacts in the body to form different substances can now be simulated in a special fluidic chip developed at the University of Twente. This miniaturized electrochemical cell enables the rapid screening of new medicines. Researchers at the UT’s MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology presented the chip in the international authoritative journal ‘’.

Chip simulates metabolism of medicine in human body

Photograph and diagram of the chip showing the inlets and outlets for fluids, the W-shaped fluid channel and the different electrodes.

The chip is an extremely small electrochemical cell: a cell in which the chemical reactions that take place in the human body are simulated. The volume of the most important fluid channel on the chip is only 9.6 nanolitre, a nanolitre being a billionth of a litre. If a medicine is added to the fluid in the channel, it will oxidize to form various constituents. The in the cell can be controlled using variations in voltage on the minuscule electrodes. The cell is about a thousand times smaller than the usual electrochemical cells and, according to the researcher, Mathieu Odijk, the advantage of its tiny dimensions is that very small samples are sufficient to carry out complete tests.

Mr Odijk has already used the new cell to conduct tests on the anti-malarial drug, amodiaquine. He traces the various reaction products by coupling the cell to external measuring equipment: a liquid chromatograph and a mass spectrometer. Next, Mr Odijk hopes to integrate components of these measuring devices on to the chip to produce a complete, but extremely compact, measuring system. This will be a significant next step in his research.

More information: The article ‘A microfluidic for electrochemical conversions in drug metabolism studies’ by M. Odijk, A. Baumann, W. Lohmann, F.T.G. van den Brink, W. Olthuis, U. Karst and A. van den Berg, appeared in Lab on a Chip.

Provided by University of Twente (news : web)


Rank 5 /5 (5 votes)
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Safe nitrogen compound to decompose a 500 deg C in a furnace?
    created2 hours ago
  • [ask]electron inside drinking water
    created21 hours ago
  • How to avoid formation of Lithium Chromate ???
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • how to choose a reduced or oxidated form in a redox
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Mesomeric effect in acids.
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Looking for a safe endothermic chemical reaction
    createdFeb 07, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Chemistry

More news stories

Hydrogen from acidic water: Researchers develop potential low cost alternative to platinum for splitting water

A technique for creating a new molecule that structurally and chemically replicates the active part of the widely used industrial catalyst molybdenite has been developed by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created 5 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

New method makes culture of complex tissue possible in any lab

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have developed a new method for making scaffolds for culturing tissue in three-dimensional arrangements that mimic those in the body. This advance, published online in ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created 3 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Flexible paper robots

(PhysOrg.com) -- These inexpensive robots can stretch, bend and twist under control, and lift objects up to 120 times their own weight. Being soft, they can apply gentle and even pressure, and adapt to varied ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created 4 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Engineers find inspiration for new materials in Piranha-proof armor

(PhysOrg.com) -- It’s a matchup worthy of a late-night cable movie: put a school of starving piranha and a 300-pound fish together, and who comes out the winner?

Chemistry / Materials Science

created 12 hours ago | popularity 4.3 / 5 (3) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Materials that shrink when heated

One common reason that people with fillings experience toothache is that their fillings expand at a different rate to the original tooth when, for example, drinking a hot drink. Contrary to intuition, however, ...

Chemistry / Materials Science

created 5 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 1


'Dark plasmons' transmit energy

Microscopic channels of gold nanoparticles have the ability to transmit electromagnetic energy that starts as light and propagates via "dark plasmons," according to researchers at Rice University.

Ultraviolet protection molecule in plants yields its secrets

Lying around in the sun all day is hazardous not just for humans but also for plants, which have no means of escape. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can damage proteins and DNA inside cells, leading ...

Anyone can learn to be more inventive, cognitive researcher says

There will always be a wild and unpredictable quality to creativity and invention, says Anthony McCaffrey, a cognitive psychology researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, because an "Aha moment" is rare and ...

FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...

Cell biologists describes mechanism by which some people may be more susceptible to colon cancer

An international research team led by cell biologists at the University of California, Riverside has uncovered a new insight into colon cancer, the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United ...

Deadly bird parasite evolves at exceptionally fast rate

A new study of a devastating bird disease that spread from poultry to house finches in the mid-1990s reveals that the bacteria responsible for the disease evolves at an exceptionally fast rate. What's more, ...