Science & Technology, Australia (Commonwealth Union) – The possibility of ending animal testing with the use new methods and technology in recent years for medical drugs has become o more of a reality. The new methods include Computer modeling and simulation, Microdosing studies, Human tissue testing and Organ-on-a-chip technology.
Researchers have produced a step-by-step blueprint that can form advanced human lung models in lab settings, which they point out will speed up the discovery together with the development of new drugs and lower dependance on animal studies.
The study is accesible online as a preprint, led by Dr Huyen Phan of the University of Sydney partnering with others in Australia, South Korea as well as China.
Lab-made lungs, which are referred to as organoids, are 3 Dimensional structures that grow from human primary cells reflecting real organs in the body. They provide a testing platform for biomedical research as indicated by researchers.
Professor Wojciech Chrzanowski who is the Senior author as well as the Professor of Nanomedicine in the Sydney Pharmacy School, Faculty of Medicine, indicated that the finding is vital as they will be capable of lowering the number of animals in medical research while speeding up the discovery of new drugs or innovative strategies for disease treatment.
He further indicated that they chose to build 2 different lung models, where one of them imitates phase 1 clinical trials; a healthy lung for evaluating the safety of new drugs. The other one imitates phase 2 trials; a diseased lung that, in their case, reflects chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, making it possible to evaluate how effective the therapeutic nature is or how better the drugs are.
“We take cells directly from patients and then build them in layers as they exist inside the body. So, first you have the epithelial cells, then you have the fibroblasts – we are literally creating a mimic organ that is very much like actual human lungs.”
Professor Chrzanowski stated that the models defined in the research paper, which are more precise when compared to traditional models. He further indicated that they are unique for their ability to copy the atmosphere of a human lung. Similar models are presently utilized by AstraZeneca as well as the US Food and Drug Administration.
Professor Chrzanowski indicated that the lung models may have a significant impact on basic science, making it possible for the discovery of how various organs function and the way to form the therapeutic strategies with the highest effectiveness.
The scientists further indicated that the big advantage of their models is their reproducibility, reliability as well as the capability to conduct studies economically in a large scale.
“With a traditional cell culture, you put cells into a Petri dish and culture them in static conditions, which is far from what happens in a human body. What we are doing is creating environmental conditions similar to those which exist in the human body,” Dr Phan said.
“We culture and maintain our models under the micro-environmental conditions of lungs, with air on one side and liquid interface at the bottom, combined with microcirculation, which is our circulatory system or blood.”
Professor Chrzanowski, who has advocated the formation of a national center for medical research alternatives to animal testing indicated that the formation of these lung models will take the country to the front of the line for mini organ research
Cosmetic testing was banned in Australia back in July 2020 and in 2022 a legislation in the USA was passed eliminating the need for new drugs requiring animal testing.
With increasing concerns surrounding the ethics of animal testing and tests on vulnerable communities such methods of lab grown lungs have a huge potential of becoming a solid alternative in the years ahead.
