3D Culture System for Liver Tissue Mimicking Hepatic Plates for Improvement of Human Hepatocyte (C3A) Function and Polarity

Figure 1

The overall experimental process. (a) Chip design and description: the main reaction channel of the chip measures 400 μm (W4) by 180 μm (D1) by 50 mm (L10). The inlet channels (A-G) are 1700 μm circular openings. The chip surface pores are connected to their respective inlet channels. The pore diameter is approximately 1200 μm. Other dimensions:  μm,  μm,  μm,  μm,  μm,  μm,  μm,  μm,  μm,  mm,  μm,  μm,  mm,  mm, °, °, °,  μm,  μm,  μm, and  μm. (b) Three-dimensional culture formats used in this study: hepatic plate mimetic three-dimensional culture (i) and mixed three-dimensional culture (ii). (c) Hepatic plate-mimetic 3D coculture system schematic: laminar flow of the four solutions in the chip reaction channel (i) and overall experimental process (ii). (d) The mixed 3D coculture experimental process. (e) Images of the sandwich coculture method layers: bottom collagen coating (i), inoculated cells (ii), and upper collagen coating (iii) (all error bars: 100 μm).

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