3D hepatic mimics - the need for a multicentric approach

Abstract

The liver is a center of metabolic activity, including the metabolism of drugs, and consequently is prone to drug-induced liver injury. Failure to detect hepatotoxicity of drugs during their development will lead to the withdrawal of the drugs during clinical trials. To avoid such clinical and economic consequences,in vitroliver models that can precisely predict the toxicity of a drug during the pre-clinical phase is necessary. This review describes the different technologies that are used to developin vitroliver models and the different approaches aimed at mimicking different functional aspects of the liver at the fundamental level. This involves mimicking of the functional and structural units like the sinusoid, the bile canalicular system, and the acinus.