Before birth, a developing baby relies on the placenta as its primary support system. This organ supplies oxygen and nutrients, clears waste, shields the fetus and generates hormones needed to maintain pregnancy. Despite its essential role, the placenta is among the least studied organs because direct examination during pregnancy is difficult. Researchers at the ICMR-National Institute for Research on Women’s Health in Mumbai, together with IIT Bombay, have now built a locally developed placenta-on-chip device that reproduces major functions of the human placental barrier. The work, reported in the journal Biofabrication, presents a microphysiological model that copies the interface between mother and fetus. The system performs several key placental tasks, such as hormone secretion, nutrient movement, waste exchange and selective barrier activity. It generates pregnancy hormones, transfers glucose from the maternal to the fetal side, clears urea and reacts to elevated glucose levels similar to gestational diabetes. These features position the platform as a useful tool for examining placental biology, investigating pregnancy disorders, testing drug transfer across the barrier and creating improved human-based research models. Unlike many existing placenta-on-chip designs that depend on advanced microfluidic pumps and constant flow systems, the Indian version is simple, scalable and works with standard lab procedures, potentially allowing broader use by other research groups. Scientists involved in the project noted that recreating placental functions on a chip could improve understanding of pregnancy, support maternal and fetal health studies and reduce reliance on animal experiments where appropriate. The biological validation was led by one researcher while the engineering design came from IIT Bombay. The effort combined expertise in reproductive biology, microengineering and cell biology. Such platforms may help evaluate medication safety during pregnancy and offer insights into conditions including gestational diabetes, fetal growth restriction and pre-eclampsia.
