Human liver model systems in a dish

The human adult liver has a multi-cellular structure consisting of large lobes subdivided into lobules containing portal triads and hepatic cords lined by specialized blood vessels. Vital hepatic functions include filtering blood, metabolizing drugs, and production of bile and blood plasma proteins like albumin, among many other functions, which are generally dependent on the location or zone in which the hepatocyte resides in the liver. Due to the liver's intricate structure, there are many challenges to design differentiation protocols to generate more mature functional hepatocytes from human stem cells and maintain the long-term viability and functionality of primary hepatocytes. To this end, recent advancements in three-dimensional (3D) stem cell culture have accelerated the generation of a human miniature liver system, also known as liver organoids, with polarized epithelial cells, supportive cell types and extra-cellular matrix deposition by translating knowledge gained in studies of animal organogenesis and regeneration. To facilitate the efforts to study human development and disease using in vitro hepatic models, a thorough understanding of state-of-art protocols and underlying rationales is essential. Here, we review rapidly evolving 3D liver models, mainly focusing on organoid models differentiated from human cells.