Predicting in vivo anti-hepatofibrotic drug efficacy based on in vitro high-content analysis.

Background/aims: Many anti-fibrotic drugs with high in vitro efficacies fail to produce significant effects in vivo. The aim of this work is to use a statistical approach to design a numerical predictor that correlates better with in vivo outcomes.

Methods: High-content analysis (HCA) was performed with 49 drugs on hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) LX-2 stained with 10 fibrotic markers.

Galactosylated cellulosic sponge for multi-well drug safety testing.

Hepatocyte spheroids can maintain mature differentiated functions, but collide to form bulkier structures when in extended culture. When the spheroid diameter exceeds 200 μm, cells in the inner core experience hypoxia and limited access to nutrients and drugs. Here we report the development of a thin galactosylated cellulosic sponge to culture hepatocytes in multi-well plates as 3D spheroids, and constrain them within a macroporous scaffold network to maintain spheroid size and prevent detachment.