Fig. 6

(A) Schematic representation of the anatomy of the cervical epithelial layer. Left: gross morphology view; Right: cross-sectional view. From outside to inside are ectocervix, transformation zone, endocervix. Reproduced with permission [73]. Copyright 2021 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. (B) Design and cell culture of the cervix-organ-o-a-chip, the blue outer chamber cultures the ectocervical epithelial cells and the yellow inner chamber cultures the endocervical epithelial cells. The two cell culture chambers are separated by microfluidic channels filled with type IV collagen, through which the cells can migrate to mimic the epithelium of the transformation zone of the cervix. Reproduced with permission [73]. Copyright 2021 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. (C) Upper: an illustration of the anatomy and histology of the female reproductive tract showing the vagina, cervix, and decidua. The epithelial cells of the vagina are continuous with the ectocervix, transformation zone, and endocervix. Beneath the epithelial layers are the cervical stromal layer embedded in collagen. During term gestation, the fetal membrane, specifically the decidua, which is its outermost layer, lies directly above the endocervix; Lower: schematic image of the vagina-cervix-decidua (VCD)-OOC with different cell culture chambers represented by different colors and connected with each other by an array of microchannels. Reproduced with permission [75]. Copyright 2022 Tantengco, Richardson, Radnaa, Kammala, Kim, Medina, Han and Menon. (D) Inoculation of U.parvum in the vaginal epithelial cells chamber of the VCD-OOC. The red arrow indicates the direction of propagation of U. parvum infection from the vaginal epithelial cells chamber to the decidual cell chamber. Reproduced with permission [74]. Copyright 2022 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. (E) Schematic representation of the microfluidic human vagina-on-a-chip model. Human vaginal epithelial cells cultured in the top channel of the porous membrane and human uterine fibroblasts cultured in the submembrane channel, thus reconstructing the vaginal epithelial-stromal interface in vitro. Reproduced with permission [77]