A hybrid co-culture model with endothelial cells designed for the hepatic tissue engineering

作者：Yang, Xiaoning; Wang, Xin; Huang, Xiaobo^*; Hang, Ruiqiang; Zhang, Xiangyu; Tang, Bin^*

来源：Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Medicine , 2017, 28(9): 139.

DOI：10.1007/s10856-017-5950-3

• LONG-TERM CULTURE
• CHITOSAN SCAFFOLD
• LIVER-CELLS
• HEPATOCYTES
• PHENOTYPE

The cultured hepatic cells in vitro are prone to losing their characteristic morphologies and biological functions. To avoid this problem, a hybrid co-culture system was proposed to elucidate the effect of cellular communication on the phenotype of hepatic cells. A monolayer of endothelial cells (ECs) was co-cultured on the surface of a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold embedded with HepG2 cells. In this hybrid co-culture system, the growth of encapsulated hepatic cells is barely influenced by the co-cultured ECs. However, the liver-special functions of hepatic cells, including the albumin secretion and the expression levels of hepatocyte-specific genes, are significantly improved. It is deduced that the improved liver-special functions is likely related to the paracrine mechanisms. Hence, this hybrid co-culture model may open a window for the co-cultivation of the multi-type of cells as well as the study of cell-cell signaling interaction.

• 出版日期2017-9
• 单位太原理工大学