In silico representation of the liver-connecting function to anatomy, physiology and heterogeneous microenvironments.

We have built a collection of flexible, hepatomimetic, in silico components. Some are agent-based. We assemble them into devices that mimic aspects of anatomic structures and the behaviors of hepatic lobules (the primary functional unit of the liver) along with aspects of liver function. We validate against outflow profiles for sucrose administered as a bolus to isolated, perfused rat livers (IPRLs). Acceptable in silico profiles are experimentally indistinguishable from those of the in situ referent based on similarity measure values. The behavior of these devices is expected to cover expanding portions of the behavior space of real livers and their components. These in silico livers will provide powerful tools for understanding how the liver functions in normal and diseased states, at multiple levels of organization.