Liver on a chip: Engineering the liver sinusoid

We have developed a novel microfluidic device using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microchannels for long term, layered co-culture of primary rat hepatocytes (PRH) and endothelial cells (EC) to mimic the liver sinusoid. Three microfluidic configurations were investigated as shown in Figure 1. In configuration 1, where PRH and rat adrenal medullary endothelial cells (RAMEC) were co-cultured with matrigel in layers in a single PDMS microchannel, cells remained viable for 30 days. In configuration 3, where PRH and liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSEC) were cultured on the opposite sides of the microporous membrane between two microchannels under static and dynamic conditions, PRH retained their viability and normal morphology up to 35 days and 63 days, respectively. Thus, our novel liver models that closely mimic the liver sinusoid have been proven to facilitate long-term layered co-cultures of PRH and EC.