Hollow Microfiber Assembly-Based Endocrine Pancreas-on-a-Chip for Sugar Substitute Evaluation.

With the increasing demand for low-sugar, low-calorie healthy diets, artificial sweeteners have been widely used as substitutes for sugar in the food industry. Therefore, developing models that can better predict the effects of sugar substitutes on the human body is necessary. Here, we developed a new type of endocrine pancreas-on-a-chip based on a microfiber assembly and evaluated its stimulation of pancreatic secretion by glucose or sugar substitutes. This new endocrine pancreas-on-a-chip was assembled using two components: (1) a cell-loaded hollow methacrylate gelatin (GelMA)/calcium alginate (CaA) composite microfiber prepared by microfluidic spinning to achieve vascular simulation and material transport, and (2) a three-dimensional (3D) pancreatic islet culture layer, which also serves as a fiber assembly microchip. Using this established organ chip, we investigated the effects of five sweeteners (glucose, erythritol, xylitol, sodium cyclamate, and sucralose) on pancreatic islet cell viability and insulin and glucagon secretion. The constructed endocrine pancreas-on-a-chip has potential for the safety evaluation of sugar-substituted food additives, which can expand the application of organ chips in the field of food safety and provide a new platform for evaluating various food additives. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.