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A flexible bioreactor system for constructing in vitro tissue and organ models
Author(s) -
Vozzi Federico,
Mazzei Daniele,
Vinci Bruna,
Vozzi Giovanni,
Sbrana Tommaso,
Ricotti Leonardo,
Forgione Nicola,
Ahluwalia Arti
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
biotechnology and bioengineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.136
H-Index - 189
eISSN - 1097-0290
pISSN - 0006-3592
DOI - 10.1002/bit.23164
Subject(s) - bioreactor , in vitro , in vivo , microbiology and biotechnology , function (biology) , endothelial stem cell , biological system , biomedical engineering , biology , chemistry , biochemical engineering , computer science , biochemistry , engineering , botany
To develop in vitro models of cells, tissues and organs we have designed and realized a series of cell culture chambers. Each chamber is purpose designed to simulate a particular feature of the in vivo environment. The bioreactor system is user friendly, and the chambers are easy to produce, sterilize and assemble. In addition they can be connected together to simulate inter‐organ or tissue cross‐talk. Here we discuss the design philosophy of the bioreactor system and then describe its construction. Preliminary results of validation tests obtained with hepatocytes and endothelial cells are also reported. The results show that endothelial cells are extremely sensitive to small levels of shear stress and that the presence of heterotypic signals from endothelial cells enhances the endogenous metabolic function of hepatocytes. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2011;108:2129–2140. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.