LAUSR

The cultured hepatic cells in vitro are prone to losing their characteristic morphologies and biological functions. To avoid this problem, a hybrid co-culture system was proposed to elucidate the effect of cellular communication on the phenotype of hepatic cells. A monolayer of endothelial cells (ECs) was co-cultured on the surface of a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold embedded with HepG2 cells. In this hybrid co-culture system, the growth of encapsulated hepatic cells is barely influenced by the co-cultured ECs. However, the liver-special functions of hepatic cells, including the albumin secretion and the expression levels of hepatocyte-specific genes, are significantly improved. It is deduced that the improved liver-special functions is likely related to the paracrine mechanisms. Hence, this hybrid co-culture model may open a window for the co-cultivation of the multi-type of cells as well as the study of cell-cell signaling interaction.Graphical Abstract