Microfluidics-assisted in vitro drug screening and carrier production

Microfluidic platforms provide several unique advantages for drug development. In the production of drug carriers, physical properties such as size and shape, and chemical properties such as drug composition and pharmacokinetic parameters, can be modified simply and effectively by tuning the flow rate and geometries. Large numbers of carriers can then be fabricated with minimal effort and with little to no batch-to-batch variation. Additionally, cell or tissue culture models in microfluidic systems can be used as in vitro drug screening tools. Compared to in vivo animal models, microfluidic drug screening platforms allow for high-throughput and reproducible screening at a significantly lower cost, and when combined with current advances in tissue engineering, are also capable of mimicking native tissues. In this review, various microfluidic platforms for drug and gene carrier fabrication are reviewed to provide guidelines for designing appropriate carriers. In vitro microfluidic drug screening platforms designed for high-throughput analysis and replication of in vivo conditions are also reviewed to highlight future directions for drug research and development. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.