Development of highly functional hepatic tissue through mimicking spatio-temporal environment in the liver

Abstract

   Improvement of primary culture of hepatocytes is definitely important for in vitro toxicity tests for various chemicals. Various improvements in terms of culture system have been investigated, such as enhancement in oxygen supply to the cells, coculture with nonparenchymal cells or cell lines, 3D organization into spheroids, etc. However, it is still difficult to maintain in vivo-like high liver-specific functions in in vitro culture. In this report, we briefly explained both the related important research and latest new approach of our research that tried to mimic the in vivo diurnal changes of hepatic functions.