Constructing Neuroinflammation-On-A-Chip for Traditional Chinese Medicine Extracts Evaluation

Abstract

Neuroinflammation is a core pathological mechanism in neurodegenerative diseases. Although natural many compounds, derived from traditional Chinese medicine have shown promise in modulating neuroinflammation, conventional evaluation methods remain inefficient and fail to meet modern drug development needs. This study aimed to develop a neuroinflammation-on-a-chip for efficient and accurate evaluation of the anti-neuroinflammatory activity of such compounds. By integrating gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel with a microchamber array structure into a multi-channel concentration-gradient microfluidic chip, we constructed a functional neuroinflammation-on-a-chip suitable for high-throughput drug screening. Preliminary results demonstrated that the chip can successfully model lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced neuroinflammation and test the anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin (Cur) and resveratrol (RSV). Relative to traditional approaches, the chip offers the advantages of low sample consumption, rapid detection, and high data reliability. This study provides a novel tool for the efficient evaluation of anti-neuroinflammatory activity of traditional Chinese medicine active compounds and offers an innovative platform for research on neuroinflammation-related diseases.

Keywords

drug evaluation / hydrogel / microfluidics / neuroinflammation / organ-on-a-chip

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2026 The Author(s). Smart Medicine published by Wiley-VCH GmbH on behalf of Wenzhou Institute, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.