Primary Human Hepatocytes 3D in vitro Culture Model for Studying Hepatic Function

Primary Human Hepatocyte (PHH) culture provides the closest in vitro model to human liver that can produce a metabolic profile of a given drug very similar to that found in vivo. Hence, PHH culture is the gold standard for studying the in vitro hepatic biology, liver function, and drug induced hepatotoxicity. The conventional way of culturing PHH in 2-dimension (2D) has major pitfalls. The PHH rapidly de-differentiate and lose the hepatic specific functions in a week. Therefore, there is a need for more robust in vitro models that reflect in vivo liver biology more accurately and maintains the liver functions for a longer time. 3-dimensional (3D) hepatic in vitro models have gained a lot of attention for their ability to recapitulate the hepatic function and greater longevity.

Recently we have developed an easy-to-assemble user-friendly in vitro Primary Human Hepatocyte (PHH) 3D-spheroid model. The 3D-hepatic spheroids are viable for at least 4 weeks in culture and remain phenotypically stable, retaining the hepatocyte-specific functions.