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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

An Intestine/Liver Microphysiological System for Drug Pharmacokinetic and Toxicological Assessment
Published on: December 3, 2020
Liver system. III. Prototype to study its unstable equilibrium on human biopsy samples
1Istituto di Medicina Interna, Università degli Studi di Milano.
Abstract:
Autoisodiasostasis of the liver, i.e., its self-maintenance without change over the course of time, is characterized by a bistable equilibrium between two extreme phases called homopoiesis, during which the liver system repairs its worn structures and replicates its cells, and homeorhesis, during which it satisfies the body's needs. Albumin traffic through the hepatocyte, rendered visible by means of an immunohistological method, has been used as a prototype model to study the dynamics of autoisodiasostasis. An account is given of the oscillation of autoisodiasostasis between homopoiesis and homeorhesis through two intermediate phases. The phase cycle of autoisodiasostasis is illustrated in the form of atemporal bidimensional and tridimensional diagrams. The temporal behavior of the system is represented as a helix trajectory obtained by the projections of homopoiesis-homeorhesis phase cycle on time series.

