Brain-on-a-Chip

Unravelling the microenvironment of the human brain to investigate the different pathophysiological conditions is a pivotal task. The demarcation of the central nervous system from the peripheral nervous system makes the human brain developmental process a more protracted one. Increasing number of various neurodegenerative diseases causes a major challenge to the management of global public health. Although traditional in vivo animal models and in vitro cell culture models facilitate the evaluation of the structural and functional aspects of the brain, they have certain limitations too. This calls for an innovative approach in the shape of Microfluidics Technology that can offer a single platform to culture neurons in a quasi-physiological confined microenvironment, to reconstitute neural framework under spatiotemporal regulation and external stimulation for modelling of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and more followed by high-throughput analysis of effective drug delivery systems. In this chapter, we have highlighted the various structural and functional aspects of the human brain by the reconstitution of the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system on chip. We have thereby highlighted the neurological disorders that are associated with the malfunctioning of both the nervous systems succeeded by high-throughput analysis of drugs on chip that have been screened till date. Therefore, these lab-on-chip technologies hold promises for mimicking the complex brain microenvironment imparting novel platform for disease modelling and drug screening.