Originally Published EMDM October 2001
Scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), have coaxed liver cells into thriving on specially machined silicon chips. This melding of biology and technology could lead to the creation of an artificial liver device that would eliminate the need for transplants.
The team at UCSD says it has succeeded in keeping rat liver cells alive and fully functional on the special chips for at least two weeks. Liver cells often survive only hours or days on the prototypical artificial liver devices currently being tested. The team presented the chips at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego, CA, USA.
"This is a very fundamental kind of project that asks, 'What can we do to make cells happy and to keep them growing?'" says Michael J. Sailor, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at UCSD.
For the experiment, researchers used silicon wafers—the same blanks used to make computer chips—etched with tiny wells no wider than a human hair. These wells snugly house the individual cells. The rest of the wafer is riddled with pores of various sizes to allow nutrients and chemicals to flow through while blocking larger bacteria and viruses.
The researchers foresee a day when a stack of chips could be combined to form an artificial liver that would cleanse the body's blood of toxins. As many as 300,000 liver cells can live on a 0.16-sq-in. patch of the chips. A stacked-chip system, if it could be produced, could keep patients suffering from liver failure alive while they await a transplanted organ. It could even allow their livers to regenerate naturally.
Achilles Demetriou, chairman of the department of surgery at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles, CA, USA), says that environment will put the chips to the test. "We can now, with very cheap and low-tech systems, keep cells alive in culture for weeks. The issue with any new device is what happens when those cells are exposed to toxic plasma, which is similar to what you see in a patient with severe liver failure."
For more information, contact the University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093, USA; phone: +1 853 5342230; Internet: www.ucsd.edu.
Karim Marouf
Copyright ©2001 European Medical Device Manufacturer
