Organotypic cultures as tools for functional screening in the CNS.
A major challenge for the pharmaceutical industry is the development of relevant model systems in which knowledge gained from high-throughput, genomic and proteomic approaches can be integrated to study function. Animal models are still the main choice for such studies but over the past few years powerful new in vitro systems have begun to emerge as useful tools to study function. Organotypic cultures made from slices of explanted tissue represent a complex multi-cellular in vitro environment with the potential to assess biological function and are uniquely placed to act as an important link between high-throughput approaches and animal models.
Sundstrom
Lars
L
Capsant Neurotechnologies Ltd., Biomedical Sciences Building, Southampton SO16 7PX, UK. Lars@capsant.com
Morrison
Barclay
B
Bradley
Mark
M
Pringle
Ashley
A
D000818:Animals; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D004345:Drug Industry / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D013678:Technology, Pharmaceutical / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D046509:Tissue Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends