The promise of organotypic hepatic and gastrointestinal models.
Advances in the design and assembly of in vitro organotypic liver and gastrointestinal (GI) models can accelerate our understanding of metabolism, nutrient absorption, and the effect of microbial flora. Such models can provide comprehensive information on how of environmental toxins, drugs, and pharmaceuticals interact with and within these organs. Information obtained from such models could elucidate the complicated cascades of signaling mechanisms that occur in vivo. Because experiments on large-scale animal models are expensive and resource intensive, the design of organotypic models has renewed significance. The challenges and approaches to designing liver and GI models are similar. Because these organs are in close proximity and interact continually, we have described recent design considerations to guide future tissue models.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
Lucas T
LT
Vu
School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA.
Rebekah R
RR
Less
Department of Chemical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA; ICTAS Center for Systems Biology of Engineered Tissues, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA. Electronic address: padmar@vt.edu.
Padmavathy
P
Rajagopalan
D000818:Animals; D001187:Artificial Organs; D035843:Biomedical Research; D002460:Cell Line; D060833:Cellular Microenvironment / Q000502:physiology; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D046210:Microfluidic Analytical Techniques; D008954:Models, Biological
engineered tissues; gastrointestinal tract; in vitro models; liver; organotypic