Journal of Pharmaceutical Practice and Service 2025;43(2):59-66

doi:10.12206/j.issn.2097-2024.202409034

Construction of glioma microfluidic chip model and its application research on evaluation the medicinal efficacy of the Chinese medicine Scutellaria barbata

Piaoxue YOU 1 ; Lan CHEN 1 ; Yiwei SHI 2 ; Hui WANG 2 ; Liang CHAO 2 ; Zhanying HONG 1

Affiliations

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Keywords

glioma; microfluidic chips; tumor microenvironment; medicinal efficacy evaluation; Scutellaria barbata

Country

China

Language

Chinese

Abstract

Objective To construct a glioma microfluidic chip model to simulate tumor microenvironment for evaluating the medicinal efficacy of anti-glioma traditional Chinese medicines. Methods Glioblastoma cells U251 were seeded into microfluidic chips with different culture modes, and the cell viability and tumour microenvironment within the constructed model were characterized. Fluorescence staining was used to evaluate the effects of the positive drugs temozolomide (TMZ) and docetaxel (DOC) on the cell activity and apoptosis within the model, which was applied to evaluate the medicinal efficacy of the extracts of the herb Scutellaria barbata on gliomas. Results The cells in the constructed U251 microfluidic chip model displayed high viability and were able to mimic the hypoxic microenvironment of tumor to a certain extent. The viability of the U251 cells in the microfluidic chips decreased with the increasing of the concentration of the positive drug, and the viability of the 3D cultured U251 cells was higher than that in the 2D condition (P<0.05). The intracellular mitochondrial membrane potential decreased with the increasing of the concentration of the positive drug. And the 2 mg/ml Scutellaria barbata extract killed U251 cells to a certain extent and reduced the mitochondrial membrane potential of the cells in the model. Conclusion This study successfully constructed a microfluidic chip model of glioma that could effectively simulate the tumor microenvironment and rapidly evaluate the anti-tumor medicinal efficacy, which provided a new strategy for the medicinal efficacy evaluation and active components screening of anti-glioma traditional Chinese medicines.