Figure 2.

Systematic analysis of the scientific literature on NAFLD in vitro cell culture models published between 2007 and 2021

(A) Trend over time of scientific publications centered on NAFLD in vitro models, clustered by application. Despite the majority published studies using in vitro models focused on NAFLD biology (orange), the past years have seen a marked increase in scientific articles presenting novel in vitro models (purple) or using available culture systems for compound testing (cyan). The concurrent decrease in investigations of the role of specific pathways and/or proteins in NAFLD pathogenesis suggests a shift in focus and efforts within the scientific community.

(B) Barplot showing the percentage of in vitro models that have been used to study steatosis, inflammation, fibrosis, or hepatocellular ballooning. For each disease hallmark, publications are clustered, according to their focus, in NAFLD (cyan), NASH (blue) or both NAFLD and NASH (dark blue). Steatosis is the most studied feature in NAFLD and NASH, followed by inflammation and fibrosis. Hepatocellular ballooning is the least studied feature in the scientific literature. For more information regarding the historical perspective of the evolution of in vitro models for NAFLD.

See also Figure S2.