Table 3.

Advantages and disadvantages of in vivo and in vitro models in the evaluation of bioavailability.

Models	Advantages	Disadvantages
In vitro models
Simulation of gastrointestinal transformation	Similar to the physiological processes in the human body Suitable for high-throughput format Ability of testing a specific mechanisms of action Focus on small number of components Validation with reference material	No hormonal and nervous control Lack of feedback mechanisms Absence of mucosal cell activity Deficiency of complexity of peristaltic movements, and involvement of the local immune system Homeostatic mechanisms are not present Difficult to achieve the anaerobic assay conditions
Caco-2 cells	Reproducibility of results Provides information about efficiency of digestion, absorption Ability of studying transport mechanisms Phenotypically similar to absorptive epithelial cells Suitable for high-throughput format	Human colonic adenocarcinoma origin Higher TEER value than human intestine Lack of mucin, microflora, biofilms, and epithelial cell types Variation of efflux transporters expression levels Incapability of simulating the changes of pH
In vivo models	In vivo condition Well-known biology Selection of specific subjects Better-understanding kinetic of mycotoxins	High-throughput limitation Extremely complex functional systems Influence of different factors-phenotypic variation Lack of certified reference standards Ethical issues and high cost Time consuming and labor intensive

TEER: Transepithelial electrical resistance.