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Beirow K, Schmidt C, Jürgen B, Schlüter R, Schweder T, Bednarski PJ. Investigation of TGF-α-overexpressing mouse hepatocytes (TAMH) cultured as spheroids for use in hepatotoxicity screening of drug candidates. J Appl Toxicol 2024; 44:272-286. [PMID: 37655636 DOI: 10.1002/jat.4538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 09/02/2023]
Abstract
The immortalized mouse liver cell line TAMH has been described as a valuable tool for studying hepatotoxic mechanisms, but until now, it has only been reported to grow as a monolayer in culture. However, culturing hepatocytes as three-dimensional (3D) spheroids has been shown to result in improved liver-specific functions (e.g., metabolic capacity) by better mimicking the in vivo environment. This approach may lead to more reliable detection of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) in the early phase of drug discovery, preventing post-marketing drug withdrawals. Here, we investigated the cultivation of TAMH as 3D spheroids, characterizing them with optical and transmission electron microscopy as well as analyzing their gene expression at mRNA level (especially drug-metabolizing enzymes) compared to TAMH monolayer. In addition, comparisons were made with spheroids grown from the human hepatoblastoma cell line HepG2, another current spheroid model. The results indicate that TAMH spheroids express hepatic structures and show elevated levels of some of the key phase I and II drug-metabolizing enzymes, in contrast to TAMH monolayer. The in vitro hepatotoxic potencies of the drugs acetaminophen and flupirtine maleate were found to be very similar between TAMH spheroidal and the monolayer cultures. Both the advantages and disadvantages of TAMH spheroids as an in vitro hepatotoxicity model compared to monolayer model are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristin Beirow
- Department of Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Christian Schmidt
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Institute of Pharmacy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Britta Jürgen
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Institute of Pharmacy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Rabea Schlüter
- Imaging Center of the Department of Biology, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Thomas Schweder
- Department of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology Institute of Pharmacy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
| | - Patrick J Bednarski
- Department of Pharmaceutical/Medicinal Chemistry, Institute of Pharmacy, University of Greifswald, Greifswald, Germany
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Xing C, Kemas A, Mickols E, Klein K, Artursson P, Lauschke VM. The choice of ultra-low attachment plates impacts primary human and primary canine hepatocyte spheroid formation, phenotypes, and function. Biotechnol J 2024; 19:e2300587. [PMID: 38403411 DOI: 10.1002/biot.202300587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Accepted: 01/17/2024] [Indexed: 02/27/2024]
Abstract
Organotypic three-dimensional liver spheroid cultures in which hepatic cells retain their molecular phenotype and functionality have emerged as powerful tools for preclinical drug development. In recent years a multitude of culture systems have been developed; however, a thorough side-by-side benchmarking of the different methods is lacking. Here, we compared the performance of ten different 96- and 384-well microplate types to support spheroid formation and long-term culture. Specifically, we evaluated differences in spheroid formation kinetics, viability, functionality, expression patterns, and their utility for hepatotoxicity assessments using primary human hepatocytes (PHH) and primary canine hepatocytes (PCH). All 96-well plates enabled formation of PHH liver spheroids, albeit with differences between plates in spheroid size, geometry, and reproducibility. Performance of different 384-wells was less consistent. Only 6/10 microplates supported the formation of PCH aggregates. Interestingly, even if PCH aggregates in these six microplates were more loosely packed than PHH spheroids, they maintained their function and were compatible with long-term pharmacological and toxicological assays. Overall, Corning and Biofloat plates showed the best performance in the formation of both human and canine liver spheroids with highest viability, most physiologically relevant phenotypes, superior CYP activity and lowest coefficient of variation in toxicity assays. The presented data constitutes a valuable resource that demonstrates the impacts of current ultra-low attachment plates on liver spheroid metrics and can guide evidence-based plate selection. Combined, these results have important implications for the cross-comparison of different studies and can facilitate the standardization and reproducibility of three-dimensional liver culture experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chen Xing
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Aurino Kemas
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Kathrin Klein
- Dr Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Stuttgart, Germany
- University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Per Artursson
- Department of Pharmacy, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Volker M Lauschke
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
- Dr Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute of Clinical Pharmacology, Stuttgart, Germany
- University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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Tian C, Li L, Fan L, Brown A, Norris EJ, Morrison M, Glazer ES, Zhu L. A hepatoprotective role of peritumoral non-parenchymal cells in early liver tumorigenesis. Dis Model Mech 2023; 16:286886. [PMID: 36728410 PMCID: PMC10040241 DOI: 10.1242/dmm.049750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2022] [Accepted: 01/20/2023] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Various 3D models of hepatocytes (HCs) have been established to assess liver functions in vitro. The contribution of the hepatic non-parenchymal cells (NPCs), however, is largely neglected in these models. Here, we report a comparative study of hepatic spheroids generated from freshly isolated mouse whole liver cells (WLCs) and HCs (referred to as SphWLC and SphHC, respectively). We found that HC differentiation was preserved better in SphWLC than in SphHC, and, when co-cultured with liver tumor spheroids (SphT), SphWLC showed more potent suppression of SphT growth compared to SphHC. Histological characterization revealed marked activation and accumulation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) at the SphWLC:SphT interface. We found that mixing HSCs in both 3D and 2D HC:tumor co-cultures provided potent protection to HCs against tumor-induced cell death. Activation of HSCs at the tumor border was similarly found in liver tumors from both mice and patients. Overall, our study suggests a hepatoprotective role of peritumoral HSCs in liver tumorigenesis and the potential application of SphWLC as a useful 3D model for dissecting the liver's response to tumorigenesis in vitro.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cheng Tian
- Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Liyuan Li
- Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Li Fan
- Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Anthony Brown
- Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Eric J Norris
- STEMCELL Technologies, Vancouver, BC V6A 1B6, Canada
| | - Michelle Morrison
- Department of Surgery and Cancer Center, College of Medicine, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
| | - Evan S Glazer
- Department of Surgery and Cancer Center, College of Medicine, The University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA
| | - Liqin Zhu
- Department of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
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Carpentier N, Urbani L, Dubruel P, Van Vlierberghe S. The native liver as inspiration to create superior in vitro hepatic models. Biomater Sci 2023; 11:1091-1115. [PMID: 36594602 DOI: 10.1039/d2bm01646j] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
Abstract
Drug induced liver injury (DILI) is one of the major reasons of drug withdrawal during the different phases of drug development. The later in the drug development a drug is discovered to be toxic, the higher the economical as well as the ethical impact will be. In vitro models for early detection of drug liver toxicity are under constant development, however to date a superior model of the liver is still lacking. Ideally, a highly reliable model should be established to maintain the different hepatic cell functionalities to the greatest extent possible, during a period of time long enough to allow for tracking of the toxicity of compounds. In the case of DILI, toxicity can appear even after months of exposure. To reach this goal, an in vitro model should be developed that mimics the in vivo liver environment, function and response to external stimuli. The different approaches for the development of liver models currently used in the field of tissue engineering will be described in this review. Combining different technologies, leading to optimal materials, cells and 3D-constructs will ultimately lead to an ideal superior model that fully recapitulates the liver.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan Carpentier
- Polymer Chemistry & Biomaterials Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Luca Urbani
- The Roger Williams Institute of Hepatology, Foundation for Liver Research, London SE5 9NT, UK.,Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Peter Dubruel
- Polymer Chemistry & Biomaterials Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Sandra Van Vlierberghe
- Polymer Chemistry & Biomaterials Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
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Effects of tannic acid on liver function in a small hepatocyte–based detachable microfluidic platform. Biochem Eng J 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bej.2022.108757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
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Di Zeo-Sánchez DE, Segovia-Zafra A, Matilla-Cabello G, Pinazo-Bandera JM, Andrade RJ, Lucena MI, Villanueva-Paz M. Modeling drug-induced liver injury: current status and future prospects. Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol 2022; 18:555-573. [DOI: 10.1080/17425255.2022.2122810] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E. Di Zeo-Sánchez
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Gastroenterología, Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en el Área Temática de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Antonio Segovia-Zafra
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Gastroenterología, Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en el Área Temática de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Gonzalo Matilla-Cabello
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Gastroenterología, Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
| | - José M. Pinazo-Bandera
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Gastroenterología, Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
| | - Raúl J. Andrade
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Gastroenterología, Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en el Área Temática de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - M. Isabel Lucena
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Gastroenterología, Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red en el Área Temática de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBERehd), 28029, Madrid, Spain
- Plataforma ISCIII de Ensayos Clínicos. UICEC-IBIMA, 29071, Malaga, Spain
| | - Marina Villanueva-Paz
- Unidad de Gestión Clínica de Gastroenterología, Servicio de Farmacología Clínica, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Málaga-IBIMA, Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Victoria, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
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