Scientists have created a miniature ‘blood vessel-on-a-chip’ to study how snake venom can cause deadly internal bleeding – and to help develop new antivenoms to stop it.
The new 3D model contains cells that line human blood vessels, known as endothelial cellsjust like the extracellular matrix, or physical framework that supports these cells. The device accurately mimics the shape and cellular composition of tiny creatures blood vessels in the body and shows how the blood flows through it.
Scientists have previously developed similar organ chips mimic different systems in the body and test new drugs. In this case, researchers used their small blood vessel model to investigate exactly how different types of snake venom damage blood vessels. The team revealed its findings in a study published Tuesday (June 4) in the journal Scientific reports.
The team used exposed the new chip to venom from four species of snakes: Indian cobras (Naja naja), West African carpet vipers (Echis ocellatus), many-banded kraits (Bungarus multicinctus) aand Mozambique spitting cobras (Naja mosambica). The snakes belong to the most poisonous snake families – the vipers and elapids.
The researchers used specialized imaging techniques to look inside the chips as the poison flowed through them. They found that some of these toxins can directly damage the membranes of endothelial cells, while others detach the cells from their extracellular matrices, causing blood vessel collapse.
Related: Slow-motion footage of snake attacks reveals surprising discovery about how they kill
“The model provides accurate insight into how toxins attack the blood vessels,” Mátyás Bittenbinderlead author of the study and research associate at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands, said in a rack.
“This knowledge will help us develop better methods to treat snakebites, while also reducing the need to do studies on mice,” he said. While mice and other animals share aspects of human biology, the blood vessel-on-a-chip contains real cells from humans and can be more easily and cheaply monitored in the laboratory.
With their new chip in hand, the team plans to expose the model to even more snake venom in the future.
More than 600 snake species are known to be poisonous. In addition to attacking the circulationsnake venom is possible seriously damage the body by inducing paralysis that causes a victim to stop breathing and by causing irreversible kidney failure and extensive tissue damage.
An annual estimate 1.8 million to 2.7 million people are bitten by poisonous snakes worldwide. Of these, between 81,000 and 138,000 die from the consequences of the bite, while three times as many people suffer permanent disabilities as a result, such as amputations.
The most effective treatment for poisonous snakebites is antivenom, which continues to work strengthening the human body’s immune response to poison. Antivenom is usually made by injecting large animals, such as horses or sheep, with a specific poison and then extracting the poison. antibodies that the animals produce in response. These antibodies are then purified and given to people after a snakebite.
However, antidote are not always effective and can also cause allergic reactions in some people. So there is a need for it new types of antidotesand some scientists are working to create it a universal antidote.
The new blood vessel-on-a-chip could help test new antidotes, while also reducing scientists’ reliance on animal testing, the research team said.
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