Liver tissue engineering is a potential strategy to solve the high cost of treatment for liver diseases and liver donor limitation. In addition, tissue engineering models are candidates for developing an acceptable and sensitive drug toxicity model for the reduction of animal testing. This project investigated a series of self-assembled peptide hydrogels (SAPHs), PeptiGel®Alpha1, Delta1, Alpha2, Alpha3, Alpha4, Delta5, Alpha6, Alpha7 and their different concentrations purchased from MANCHESTER BIOGEL. Results showed that for hepatocytes in vitro 3D culture model using self-assembled peptide hydrogels, Alpha7 was the optimal gel. This negatively-charged SAPH promoted higher cell viability and proliferation for HepG2 cells rather than the positive-charged SAPHs. SAPH Alpha7 maintained the major hepatic functions including albumin production, urea synthesis and CYP450s enzyme activities over 14 days demonstrating maintenance of the differentiated phenotype. After 9 days 3D in vitro culture within Alpha7, HepG2 cells showed a response to two tested drugs, especially the CYP2E1 gene was highly induced by Acetaminophen. Therefore Alpha 7 gel has potential for liver tissue engineering and as a platform technology for in vitro drug and toxin testing.
Date of Award | 1 Aug 2023 |
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Original language | English |
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Awarding Institution | - The University of Manchester
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Supervisor | Aline Saiani (Supervisor), Alberto Saiani (Supervisor) & Julie Gough (Supervisor) |
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Engineering the Liver Using Self-assembled Peptide Hydrogels
Xin, Y. (Author). 1 Aug 2023
Student thesis: Phd