A liver analog construct for use as an alcoholic liver disease model

The construction of an in vitro liver analog is likely to be of great use for the study of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) and other hepatic disorders. Preliminary results indicate that multi-cell assembling technology can produce two hybrid cell-matrix spatial distributions according to predesigned digital models; therefore, it is possible to fabricate a liver-like construct that can mimic the structure and main components of the natural liver. After in vitro culture, a liver analog was formed. Employing the rat liver analog constructs cultured in vitro for several days for the study of ALD by adding alcohol, MDA and NO concentration were altered and controlled by adding vitamin E and vitamin C. ALD is considered an important factor in liver cancer where the pathogenesis is complex but the mechanism is still not well understood. Previous research of pathogenesis and drug prevention in ALD was based on animal models, such as baboons or rats, with particular limitations. Therefore, multi-cell assembling technology used to construct human liver analogs that contain various human liver cells is likely to be useful for studying ALD pathogenesis and related drug research.