PLACENTA-ON-A-CHIP (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Sci & Tech)

Context: To build a better model which mimics the human placental structure and functions, researchers have developed devices called placenta-on-a-chip (POC).

Key Points

• Current techniques for studying the placenta and its conditions are very few and consist of systems that do not resemble the human placenta. 

• Some of them involve time consuming traditional cell culture methods on tissue culture plates or the sacrifice of mice. 
• A bunch of devices mimicking the placenta at various stages of pregnancy can help in drug discovery, study of toxicity of chemicals like caffeine, and understanding the effects of conditions such as preeclampsia and diabetes mellitus during pregnancy.
• In pregnancy, the placenta shields the baby from harmful drugs and chemicals. But some can still cross this barrier and cause harm to the baby in the womb. 
• Thus, pregnant women are not given most medications and they continue to suffer. 
• Determining which medicines can be given during pregnancy that would not cross the placenta is a daunting task. 

• Animal studies (mostly on mice) don't provide definitive answers due to differences between human and mouse placentas. 

• As a result, the number of medicines declared safe for pregnant women is low and marking new medicines that come into the market as “pregnancy safe” is a challenge.