提供测定式多电极阵列板以测量人IPS细胞衍生神经元的电气活动

TOKYO, Japan-December 3, 2020- Ricoh Co.，Ltd。（东京，日本）和Elixirgen Scientific，Inc。化合物。该产品含有使用Elixirgen Scientific的细胞分化技术从人诱导的多能干（IPS）细胞产生的人神经元。这些人神经元使用Ricoh的生物印刷工艺牢固地连接到多电极阵列板的表面。板材已准备好用于各种生物医学应用，包括测量暴露于各种药物和化合物的人神经元的电生理活性。我们开始向制药公司和研究机构提供测定的多电极阵列板样品，旨在启动产品销售和服务合同，以评估4月2021年4月前对人类神经组织的药物疗效和毒性。

对制药工业的一个挑战s is a high attrition rate of drug candidates due to its neurotoxicity uncovered only at the late preclinical stage or at the clinical trial stage. Toxicity evaluations are generally conducted using animal subjects. However, as humans differ from other animal species, animal models may not be able to predict the toxicity accurately. In particular, candidate drugs for neurological diseases often see their development discontinued during clinical studies because of toxicity. Therefore, a cell plate on which human neurons are grown, begins to be used for evaluating drug's effects and toxicity. Increasing the reliability of testing neurotoxicity using human neurons cultured in vitro can potentially reduce the cost and time for drug development. Therefore, development is vigorously underway for neural toxicity evaluation systems that use nerve cells derived from human iPS cells. For example, drug's efficacy and toxicity are evaluated using plastic plates with human nerve cells seeded on the electrodes, which allows the measurement of electrical activities of neurons exposed to the drug.

A human drug efficacy and toxicity evaluation plate is created by seeding test object nerve cells over a plate called a Multi-Electrode Array (MEA) with minute electrodes indwelled on the bottom of each well. It can measure and record nerve cell activity as electric signals. Production of nerve cell plate by the users themselves involves tremendous labor, cost, and risks, including cell culture know-how, a prolonged culture period, and problems such as agglutination and stripping off cells. Nerve cell plates are being sought that require no cultivation and can be used quickly. Unfortunately, however, they have not been realized until now because of problems with quality instability and cells stripping off of the electrodes during transport.

Ricoh和Elixirgen Scientific已经开发出一种可运载的人类神经药物疗效和毒性评价板，具有显着增强的细胞粘合性。为了产生神经细胞，我们使用Elixirgen Scientific的技术，可以在短时间内将IPS细胞区分成预期细胞，具有高效率。我们还将电池粘附涂层技术应用于通过其生物印刷手术培养的电池粘附涂层技术，以研究细胞对电极的粘附和培养条件。通过优化各种条件实现稳定的产品质量。落后试验的结果模拟国内运输也表现出正常的细胞性质，使得可以将人类神经药物功效和毒性评估板运送到即将使用的状态。这些成就预计会促进降低新药开发的成本和风险。

Moving forward, we will continue to develop plates that cater to customer needs, not only by incorporating the same cells but also by reproducing nerve networks using bioprinting technology.

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该产品是一项研究试剂。