Chapter 7 - Liver-on-a-chip

The liver is the most metabolically active organ in the human body whose role is of high importance to maintain homeostasis. Drug-induced liver injury and liver diseases such as fatty liver diseases, cancer, or hepatitis are the main reasons for malfunctioning in this organ. In this regard, developing physiologically relevant models could be remarkably useful both for the pharmaceutical industry and the study of (patho)physiology of the liver. Among different in vitro cell cultures, organ-on-a-chip (OOC) could be a promising candidate for liver studies. Liver-on-a-chip (LOC) models propose high-fidelity in vitro models by incorporating perfusion, different cell types, and 3D environment. Therefore, they could be used to model (patho)physiological state of the liver to propose new treatments for liver diseases and toxicity essays. In addition, the integration of LOC with other OOCs could be useful to study the intercommunication of the liver with other organs.