Functional hepatocytes have been used in researches on cell transplantation,bio-artificial liver therapy, liver tissue engineering,drug metabolism and toxicity. Primary hepatocytes (PHs),as a source of functional hepatocytes, cannot meet the growing demands in those researches. Functional hepatocytes differentiated in 2D or 3D culture systems from stem cells are considered an alternative cell source. 3D culture systems,mimicking the biological environment in vivo,have recently garnered great attention because they often promote levels of cell differentiation and tissue organization not possible in conventional 2D culture systems. Here,we review the advances in researches of hepatic differentiation from stem cells in different 3D culture systems,focus on the materials used to make the 3D culture scaffolds.%功能性肝细胞被广泛应用于细胞移植、生物人工肝治疗、肝脏组织工程、药物代谢及毒性等研究,但作为功能性肝细胞主要来源之一的原代肝细胞无法完全满足这些研究需求.在2D或3D细胞培养体系中经干细胞诱导获得的功能性肝细胞可能可作为替代来源.目前,3D细胞诱导体系与2D体系相比,因前者能模拟体内部分生物微环境而备受关注.该文概述3D细胞培养体系在促进干细胞向肝细胞诱导分化研究中的作用进展,重点关注用于研制3D培养支架的材料.
展开▼
