Gastrointestinal organs and organoids-on-a-chip: advances and translation into the clinics

Microfluidic organoids-on-a-chip models of human gastrointestinal systems have been established to recreate adequate microenvironments to study physiology and pathophysiology. In the effort to find more emulating systems and less costly models for drug screening or fundamental studies, gastrointestinal system organoids-on-a-chip (GOoC) have arisen as promising pre-clinical in vitro model.  This progress has been built on the latest developments of several technologies such as bioprinting, microfluidics, and organoid research. In this review we will focus on healthy and disease models of: Human Microbiome-on-a-chip and its rising correlation with gastro pathophysiology; Stomach-on-a-chip; Liver-on-a-chip; Pancreas-on-a-chip; Small Intestine, Colon and Colorectal cancer organoids-on-a-chip and Multi-Organoids-on-a-chip. The current developments related to the design, ability to hold one or more “organs” and its challenges, microfluidic features, cell sources and whether they are used to test drugs are overviewed herein. Importantly, their contribution in terms of drug development and eminent clinical translation in precision medicine field, FDA approved models, and the impact of organoid-on-chip technology in terms of pharmaceutical research and development costs are also discussed by the authors.