Three-dimensional biomimetic liver tissue platform for drug testing

Abstract

Most past research studies taking advantage of bio-microfluidics for drug testing focus on two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures. In reality, tissue and organs are three-dimensional (3D) structure in our bodies. To approach the biomimetic situation in vitro, this study takes advantage of microfluidic techniques and tissue engineering to build a drug-testing microsystem. Biocompatible porous photo-initiated cross-linked hydrogel: gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) was used as a scaffold material for the extracellular matrix (ECM) to enhance the cell-matrix interaction and also arrange the cell pattern. We developed a microfluidic Labchip device to assemble the 3D cell structure by tightly patterning two kinds of cell structures, which consist of three different cells, to simulate the blood metabolism. We used HepG2 cells and fibroblast NIH/3T3 to establish 3D cell structure as the model of hepatocytes and endothelial cells. Through our proposed microfluidic Labchip, we mimic the blooding pathway in vitro to reconstruct the liver function for drug testing studies.