For science. Harvard researchers have developed an artificial vagina.

American scientists have reconstructed a vaginal microbiome in the laboratory, from living vaginal cells. This unique device aims to better understand and ensure better management of gynecological diseases, especially bacterial vaginal infections.

Reproducing a vagina with real human cells to test drugs: this is the ingenious solution devised by scientists at the Wyss Institute, annexed to Harvard University. Made with vaginal cell tissue from two donors, the artificial vagina features a silicone chip designed to closely mimic a real vagina’s reaction to medications given to treat vaginal infections such as yeast infections or bacterial vaginosis, affecting nearly 30% of women each year worldwide.

“Just as probiotics are now prescribed to treat intestinal problems, live biotherapies are being studied for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis. However, it is difficult to conduct preclinical studies because the human vaginal microbiome is radically different from that of common animal models. a declaration.

The tissue contained in the chip responds to many physiological characteristics of the vagina and the chip can be inoculated with different strains of bacteria to study their effects on the health of the organism. The different bacterial species introduced into the model of the vagina allowed the scientists to observe opposite effects on human vaginal cells. This is especially true for lactobacilli, bacteria that produce lactic acid and create an acidic environment inside the human vagina that protects it from infection. When another type of bacterium, associated with vaginal infections, was grown on the chip without lactobacilli, inflammation increased and cells were rapidly damaged, the researchers explain. in the journal Microbiome.

“This study demonstrates the potential of applying human organ chip technology to create a preclinical model of the human vaginal mucosa that can be used to better understand the interactions between the vaginal microbiome and host tissues, as well as evaluate the safety and efficacy of live biotherapeutic products,” conclude the scientists. “We hope that this new preclinical model will lead to the development of new treatments against bacterial vaginosis and better understand the women’s reproductive health»

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