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Updated: Jul 9, 2025

Methods to Study Epithelial Transport Protein Function and Expression in Native Intestine and Caco-2 Cells Grown in 3D
Published on: March 16, 2017
A Shared Perspective on in Vitro and in Vivo Models to Assay Intestinal Transepithelial Transport of Food Compounds
Arancha Hevia1, Patricia Ruas-Madiedo1, Miguel Angelo Faria2
1Dairy Research Institute of Asturias (IPLA-CSIC), Paseo Río Linares, sn. Villaviciosa 33300, Asturias. Spain.
Abstract:
Assessing nutrient bioavailability is complex, as the process involves multiple digestion steps, several cellular environments, and regulatory-metabolic mechanisms. Several in vitro models of different physiological relevance are used to study nutrient absorption, providing significant challenges in data evaluation. However, such in vitro models are needed for mechanistic studies as well as to screen for biological functionality of the food structures designed. This collaborative work aims to put into perspective the wide-range of models to assay the permeability of food compounds considering the particular nature of the different molecules, and, where possible, in vivo data are provided for comparison.
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