Human hepatocytes and endothelial cells in organotypic membrane systems

摘要: The realization of organotypic liver model that exhibits stable phenotype is a major challenge in the field tissue engineering. In this study we developed co-culture systems by using synthetic and biodegradable membranes with primary human hepatocytes umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC). Synthetic prepared polymeric blend constituted modified polyetheretherketone (PEEK-WC) polyurethane (PU) chitosan were phase inversion technique used homotypic culture systems. morphological functional characteristics membrane evaluated comparison cultures traditional Hepatocytes exhibit compact polyhedral round nuclei well demarcated cell-cell borders like vivo, as result heterotypic interaction HUVECs. addition HUVECs formed tube-like structures directly through interactions indirectly secretion ECM proteins which improved contacts have beneficial effect on hepatocyte albumin production, urea synthesis drug biotransformation. elicit specific functions vitro could be applied for engineered tissues to engineering, metabolism studies bioartificial devices.