Hepatocyte-based flow analytical bioreactor for online xenobiotics metabolism bioprediction

The research for new in vitro screening tools for predictive metabolic profiling of drug candidates is of major interest in the pharmaceutical field. The main motivation is to avoid late rejection in drug development and to deliver safer drugs to the market. Thanks to the superparamagnetic properties of iron oxide nanoparticles, a flow bioreactor has been developed which is able to perform xenobiotic metabolism studies. The selected cell line (HepaRG) maintained its metabolic competencies once iron oxide nanoparticles were internalized. Based on magnetically trapped cells in a homemade immobilization chamber, through which a flow of circulating phase was injected to transport nutrients and/or the studied xenobiotic, off-line and online (when coupled to a high-performance liquid chromatography chain) metabolic assays were developed using diclofenac as a reference compound. The diclofenac demonstrated a similar metabolization profile chromatogram, both with the newly developed setup and with the control situation. Highly versatile, this pioneering and innovative instrumental design paves the way for a new approach in predictive metabolism studies.