Abstract
Currently, particularly in the field of drug discovery, the development of microphysiological systems (MPS) is actively being investigated with the aim of improving the extrapolation of preclinical studies to humans [1-3]. Among various organs, the structure and function of the placenta vary greatly depending on the animal species. Therefore, the development of MPS with human placental function has high biomedical value, and can be expected to have a significant ripple effect in the evaluation system not only for pharmaceuticals but also for supplements and cosmetics. We recently discovered culture conditions for organoids with the villous structure of the placenta, using recently established human placenta-derived trophoblast stem cells (TS cells) [4,5]. Furthermore, we have also succeeded in creating more versatile planar organoids for quantitatively evaluating placental permeability. In this lecture, the human placental MPS that we are developing will be presented, and the possibility of its application to reproductive and developmental toxicity studies will be discussed.
[1] I. M. Goncalves et al., Cancers 14, 935 (2022).
[2] V. Carvalho et al., Sensors 21, 3304 (2021).
[3] L.-J. Chen, H. Kaji, Lab Chip 17, 4186-4219 (2017).
[4] H. Okae et al., Cell Stem Cell 22, 50-63 (2018).
[5] T. Hori et al., Nat. Commun. 15, 962 (2024).
