Researchers develop artery-on-a-chip device to predict stroke risk

Sydney (ANTARA) - Researchers from Australia and China have developed an ‘artery-on-a-chip’ that replicates patient-specific blood vessel structures and blood flow dynamics to help predict stroke risk.

Published in the journal Cell Biomaterials, the study describes the device as a ‘physical twin’ and shows that the shape of blood vessels and local disturbances in blood flow are likely more important determinants of stroke risk than the narrowing of blood vessels alone, according to a summary of the study published on the Australian Science Media Centre website on Friday (24 July).

‘We hope this device will enable us to study drugs aimed at reducing stroke risk and ultimately provide personalised care for each patient based on their anatomy,’ said the study’s first author, Zhao Yunduo, from the University of Sydney, Australia.

To test the platform, the researchers reconstructed the carotid arteries of six patients with varying degrees of disease and used computational fluid dynamics to model blood flow, revealing striking differences in local blood flow despite similar levels of arterial narrowing.

After using a laser to create a small wound in the underlying collagen, they also observed that blood clotting occurred differently depending on the shape of the artery. The team is currently recruiting stroke patients to take part in clinical trials.