• The use of ex vivo, in vitro models, microfluidic devices, tissue engineering technologies, the determination of their ethical and deontological components in experimental studies of Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases
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The use of ex vivo, in vitro models, microfluidic devices, tissue engineering technologies, the determination of their ethical and deontological components in experimental studies of Crohn’s disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases

Paediatric Surgery (Ukraine). 2025. 4(89): 109-122. doi: 10.15574/PS.2025.4(89).109122
Soleiko D. S.
National Pirogov Memorial Medical University, Vinnytsya, Ukraine

For citation: Soleiko DS. (2025). The use of ex vivo, in vitro models, microfluidic devices, tissue engineering technologies, the determination of their ethical and deontological components in experimental studies of Crohn's disease and other inflammatory bowel diseases. Paediatric Surgery (Ukraine). 4(89): 109-122. doi: 10.15574/PS.2025.4(89).109122.
Article received: Sep 05, 2025. Accepted for publication: Dec 12, 2025.

Experimental studies of current issues of Crohn's disease (CD) and other inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are due to the increase in morbidity, the presence of unclear etiological factors, many links in pathogenesis, the lack of effective comprehensive treatment, preventive measures for the occurrence of diseases and the prevention of its surgical complications.
Aim – to determine the technological efficiency, compliance with ethical and deontological requirements, practical significance, specificity, effectiveness and prospects for using ex vivo, in vitro models, microfluidic devices, tissue engineering technologies (TET) in experimental studies of current issues of CD and other IBD.
Various in vivo studies have certain physiological, ethical and translational limitations, which forces scientists to imp lement new methods of experimental search, relying on the development of modern technologies. According to the results of scientific literature search, ex vivo, in vitro models are characterized, the use of microfluidic devices and TET is highlighted, the main provisions and problematic issues of the ethical and deontological component of experimental studies of Crohn's disease and other IBD are given. The advantages, disadvantages, and practical significance of experimental systems are presented.
Conclusions. The use of in vitro and ex vivo models provides the opportunity to reproduce and study physiological, pathological processes with a high level of specificity. The use of TET and microfluidics technologies allows to reduce the number of experimental animals. The use of human biological samples requires strict adherence to ethical, deontological and legal norms. The introduction of microfluidic devices and robotic platforms ensures high efficiency in the development of targeted therapy methods, determination and prediction of the therapeutic effect of medical drugs, research of physiological and pathological processes in Crohn's disease and other IBD. The integration of microfluidic systems with artificial intelligence and robotic platforms, the use of biological hydrogels and 3D-bioprinting technology allows the creation of multi-organ networks for relatively long-term experimental studies of IBD, registration and analysis of their results without violating the integrity of the experimental system.
The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.
Keywords: Crohn's disease, inflammatory bowel diseases, experimental studies, microfluidics, ex vivo models, in vitro models, tissue engineering, deontology, ethics.

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