Yun Jingyeong, Jeon Tae-Joon, Kim Sun Min
Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, Inha University, Incheon 22212, Republic of Korea.
Department of Biological Engineering, Inha University, Incheon 22212, Republic of Korea.
Biomimetics (Basel). 2025 Jul 4;10(7):443. doi: 10.3390/biomimetics10070443.
The liver is a vital organ responsible for a broad range of metabolic functions, including glucose and lipid metabolism, detoxification, and protein synthesis. Its structural complexity, characterized by hexagonal hepatic lobules composed of diverse parenchymal and non-parenchymal cell types, supports its broad spectrum of physiological activities. Traditional in vitro liver models have contributed significantly to our understanding of hepatic biology and the development of therapies for liver-related diseases. However, static culture systems fail to replicate the dynamic in vivo microenvironment, particularly the continuous blood flow and shear stress that are critical for maintaining hepatocyte function and metabolic zonation. Recent advances in microphysiological systems (MPS) incorporating dynamic fluid flow have addressed these limitations by providing more physiologically relevant platforms for modeling liver function. These systems offer improved fidelity for applications in drug screening, toxicity testing, and disease modeling. Furthermore, the integration of liver MPS with other organ models in multi-organ-on-chip platforms has enabled the investigation of inter-organ crosstalk, enhancing the translational potential of in vitro systems. This review summarizes recent progress in the development of dynamic liver MPS, highlights their biomedical applications, and discusses future directions for creating more comprehensive and predictive in vitro models.
肝脏是一个重要器官，负责广泛的代谢功能，包括葡萄糖和脂质代谢、解毒以及蛋白质合成。其结构复杂，由多种实质细胞和非实质细胞类型组成的六边形肝小叶为其广泛的生理活动提供支持。传统的体外肝脏模型对我们理解肝脏生物学以及肝脏相关疾病治疗方法的发展做出了重大贡献。然而，静态培养系统无法复制动态的体内微环境，特别是对维持肝细胞功能和代谢分区至关重要的持续血流和剪切应力。结合动态流体流动的微生理系统（MPS）的最新进展通过提供更具生理相关性的平台来模拟肝功能，解决了这些局限性。这些系统在药物筛选、毒性测试和疾病建模中的应用具有更高的保真度。此外，肝脏MPS与多器官芯片平台中的其他器官模型的整合能够研究器官间的相互作用，提高了体外系统的转化潜力。本文综述了动态肝脏MPS开发的最新进展，强调了它们的生物医学应用，并讨论了创建更全面和预测性体外模型的未来方向。
