In vitro mimic of hepatic lobule tissue using ca-alginate cell-containing hydrogel modules

This paper reported a cell system that fabricate alginate gel cell sheets with flat surface for assembly of multilayered hepatic lobule model based on electrodeposition. The centimeter-scale cell sheets were produced with pre-designed hepatic lobule patterns. After a one-day culture, we successfully detached the sheets from the 2D electrode substrate without any structural defect and stacked them into 3D multilayer hepatic lobule tissue within a PDMS mold. Cell proliferation and viability of long-term survival were quantitatively measured because this is the need for three-dimensional liver systems used in pharmacological tests. This study aims to clarify that alginate cell sheets created by electrodeposition can potentially be utilized for 3D tissue constructs.