In vitro organogenesis of liver tissue.
The high metabolic rate of hepatocytes severely limits the mass of cells which can be transplanted without a vascular supply. We are developing an alternative approach in which vascularized tissue is grown ex vivo for anastamosis into the portal vein. Here, we discuss the key design issues for in vitro organogenesis of vascularized hepatic tissue, describe a fabrication approach for making complex degradable polymer scaffolds to organize cells in three dimensions on the scale of hundreds of microns, and demonstrate the feasibility of using these scaffolds for in vitro tissue organization in mixed-cell cultures.
Griffith
L G
LG
Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA. griff@mit.edu
Wu
B
B
Cima
M J
MJ
Powers
M J
MJ
Chaignaud
B
B
Vacanti
J P
JP
D000818:Animals; D017690:Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000098:blood supply / Q000254:growth & development*; D016031:Liver Transplantation / Q000379:methods*