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

Figure 2

Production of microfluidic chips, synthesis of hepatic plate-mimetic 3D liver tissue hydrogels, and validation hepatic plate mimetic arrangement. Actual chip (a), Microchannels inside the chip as imaged with a CK-2 microscope (Olympus, Japan) (b), chip after connecting to the tubing (c), external appearance of hydrogel micelles (d), microscopic observations of a hydrogel micelle (e), simulation of laminar flow distribution (f), laminar flow distribution of actual liquids in the chip (g), and real-time dual fluorescent labeling of live cells (h), showing the hepatic plate-mimetic 3D culture group (left) and the mixed 3D culture group (right, green fluorescent Calcein-AM-labeled C3A cells, red fluorescent Mito-Red-labeled EA.hy926 cells). All scale bars represent 100 μm.

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