Figure 5.

Selection of different chip models for the culture of hepatic cells. (A) Design and layering schematic of the Liver Acinus MicroPhysiology System (LAMPS) developed by Taylor and colleagues. The system features a layered architecture in which PHH are sandwiched between layers of ECM and overlaid with Kupffer, stellate, and endothelial cells (from dermal isolates) in a collagen gel scaffold. Inlet on the right shows reconstruction of the liver acinus from confocal images. Scale bar = 10 µm. (B) Schematic cross-section of one fluidically isolated reactor compartment from the LiverChip developed by Griffith and colleagues. Cells in compartment one are continually perfused through the scaffold by a diaphragm micropump, which circulates medium between the two wells. (C) Automated imaging workflow for the Emulate liver chip. The CV7000 automated microscope first performs low-resolution bright field scans of up to eight chips. On the basis of these images, relevant fields of view can be determined, which are subsequently used to high-resolution Z-stack imaging that allows accurate separation of the hepatocyte and endothelial cell layers. (D–F) Platform for the perfusion of hiPS-Hep spheroids developed by Bhatia and colleagues. (E) PDMS chips were designed with C-shaped features of 500 µm that allow to entrap spheroids across a range of perfusion rates. (F) Albumin secretion could be detected after 1 week of perfusion with flow rates up to 540 µl/h. Error bars indicate SEM; *p ≤ 0.05. Figure modified with permission from (Domansky et al., 2010; Schepers et al., 2016; Lee-Montiel et al., 2017; Peel et al., 2019).