Work

Liquid‐Suspendable Metabolic Sensors Allow Real‐Time Oxygen Consumption Monitoring in Caco‐2 and Colon Organoid‐Based Gut‐on‐a‐Chip Models

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The organ-on-a-chip field is a rapidly evolving area of expertise, combining enhanced physiological relevance with a wide range of functional readouts across diverse cellular models. One such readout is oxygen metabolism, which serves as a key indicator of mitochondrial function. In this study, we utilized metabolic sensors designed for real-time measurement of oxygen consumption, reflecting aerobic respiration, within a commercially available microfluidic platform. We demonstrated that time-resolved detection of oxygen consumption is feasible within the system's microliter-scale volumes and that chemically induced changes in cellular oxygen metabolism can be monitored in real time in two ready-to-use gut-on-a-chip models. In summary, this novel application of metabolic sensors enables direct evaluation of mitochondrial function in complex cellular environments by addressing key analytical challenges often encountered in organ-on-a-chip systems due to their limited size and structural complexity.

Source: Biotechnology Journal

DOI: 10.1002/biot.70333