Table 4 The main nanotoxicological advantages and disadvantages of multi-cellular primary 3D liver MT in the assessment of the tissue as a potential in vivo surrogate
Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
Human tissue | Cost of plates can be potentially prohibitive to academia |
Primary cells | Toxicological assessment beyond 2 weeks might not be ideal in a nano context |
Incorporation of numerous liver cell populations - hepatocytes, Kupffer cells and endothelial cells | There is no physiological structure to the tissue - cells aggregate randomly |
High metabolic activity | |
In vitro model which allows for repeated long term exposure of xenobiotics | |
Little variability between MT in wells and plates | |
Scaffold-free with 100% endogenous extracellular matrix |