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Updated: Jan 4, 2026

Human Liver Microphysiological System for Assessing Drug-Induced Liver Toxicity In Vitro
Published on: January 31, 2022
Liver microsystems in vitro for drug response
Jyong-Huei Lee1, Kuan-Lun Ho1, Shih-Kang Fan2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Abstract:
Engineering approaches were adopted for liver microsystems to recapitulate cell arrangements and culture microenvironments in vivo for sensitive, high-throughput and biomimetic drug screening. This review introduces liver microsystems in vitro for drug hepatotoxicity, drug-drug interactions, metabolic function and enzyme induction, based on cell micropatterning, hydrogel biofabrication and microfluidic perfusion. The engineered microsystems provide varied microenvironments for cell culture that feature cell coculture with non-parenchymal cells, in a heterogeneous extracellular matrix and under controllable perfusion. The engineering methods described include cell micropatterning with soft lithography and dielectrophoresis, hydrogel biofabrication with photolithography, micromolding and 3D bioprinting, and microfluidic perfusion with endothelial-like structures and gradient generators. We discuss the major challenges and trends of liver microsystems to study drug response in vitro.
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