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Construction of a liver sinusoid based on the laminar flow on chip and self-assembly of endothelial cells
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Construction of a liver sinusoid based on the laminar flow on chip and self-assembly of endothelial cells

Shengli Mi, Xiaoman Yi, Zhichang Du, Yuanyuan Xu and Wei Sun
Biofabrication, v 10(2), pp 025010/1-025010/10
20 Feb 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1758-5090/aaa97e
PMID: 29460846
Featured in Collection :   UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel

Abstract

biomimetic EC self-assembly laminar layers liver sinusoid on a chip natural 3D gel environment
The liver is one of the main metabolic organs, and nearly all ingested drugs will be metabolized by the liver. Only a small fraction of drugs are able to come onto the market during drug development, and hepatic toxicity is a major cause for drug failure. Since drug development is costly in both time and materials, an in vitro liver model that can accelerate bioreactions in the liver and reduce drug consumption is imperative in the pharmaceutical industry. The liver on a chip is an ideal alternative for its controllable environment and tiny size, which means constructing a more biomimetic model, reducing material consumption as well as promoting drug diffusion and reaction. In this study, taking advantage of the laminar flow on chips and using natural degradable gel rat tail Collagen-I, we constructed a liver sinusoid on a chip. By synchronously injecting two kinds of cell-laden collagen, HepG2-laden collagen and HUVEC-laden collagen, we formed two collagen layers with a clear borderline. By controlling the HUVEC density and injection of growth factors, HUVECs in collagen formed a monolayer through self-assembly. Thus, a liver sinusoid on a chip was achieved in a more biomimetic environment with a more controllable and uniform distribution of discrete HUVECs. Viability, album secretion and urea synthesis of the live sinusoid on a chip were analysed on days 3, 5 and 7 after collagen injection with acetaminophen treatment at 0 (control), 10 and 20 mM. The results indicated that our liver sinusoid on a chip was able to maintain bioactivity and function for at least 7 d and was beneficial for hepatotoxic drug screening.

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44 citations in Web of Science
47 citations in Scopus

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being

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Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
International collaboration
Web of Science research areas
Engineering, Biomedical
Materials Science, Biomaterials
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