Scientists have developed a device containing a series of three-dimensional cells that mimic the activities of liver, which could be used for drug testing and personalised medicines.
The new chip-based model produces a faithful mimic of the in vivo liver inside a scalable fluid-handling device, demonstrating proof of principle for toxicology tests.
The researchers from Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine and the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences created a device architecture within which were a series of 3D liver cell constructs enclosed in a biopolymer that closely mimics the extra-cellular matrix (ECM).
Surrounding the printed cells with this ECM - which the body uses to support cells in the liver - makes this model a more realistic model of the cells in vivo.
The technique uses photopatterning to produce defined 3D constructs in a microfluidic system to probe the construct quickly.
"It's basically scaled-down pluming," said Adam Hall, an author on the research paper published in the journal Biofabrication.
"This paper describes fairly hefty devices - a few mm - but we're working to scale this down considerably," said Hall.
The 3D construct device offers a new tool in the development of drug treatments.
At present, 2D testing in vitro does not replicate the activity of the cells, and until now 3D systems have not provided adequate interactions of cells with the ECM, or offered particularly high-throughput testing.
This is where the combination of technologies has proven vital.
"3D constructs are less effective if you can not probe them quickly," said Hall.
"The first time we attempted to perform the in situ photopatterning - it just worked," said Aleksander Skardal, one of the authors of the study.
"This was one of those rare occasions where things seemed to fall into place" said Hall.
The researchers are now working to reduce the size of the system allowing for multiple constructs that could be tested individually.
"Imagine being able to put, for example, tumour cells from a patient on a chip and test different drug cocktails on them," the researchers said.
"You could determine the effectiveness and side effects of different treatments on an individual basis without endangering the patient," they said.
