Liver-on-a-chip for evaluating hepatic activation of clopidogrel in patients with coronary stents

Human liver plays a major role in metabolizing medications. One of its metabolic roles is to activate prodrugs into their active form enzymatically. The proposed structure below can be considered as a basic concept of utilizing a liver-on-a-chip for evaluating drug response. One example that of paramount interest to cardiologists is the variable response of their patients to an antiplatelet agent (Plavix®, clopidogrel) which is used after the implantation of a coronary stent to prevent stent clotting. It has been found that some patients, due to genetic variability, are slow metabolizers or resistant to clopidogrel which poses grave danger to them after coronary stenting. In this paper, a multi-layered microfluidic liver-on-a-chip is presented. The model consists of three processing steps: (1) mixing, (2) metabolizing, (3) and testing. Simulations in COMSOL® was performed and reported.