Animals and their tissues are heavily relied upon in pre-clinical research, and there are efforts underway to emulate living tissue, and even whole organs, to replace animals while offering a better way to test new therapies. One recently published study in journal Molecular Pharmaceutics presents a new volumetric model of the human upper airway made out of three layers of cells that may be effective for a variety of disease analysis and drug testing.
The UK team layered epithelial, dendritic, and fibroblast cells from scaffolds into a model that exhibited an immune response as would happen in real tissue. The new tissue model was tested by exposing it to an allergen.
Here’s a quick summary of the findings from the study abstract:
It was found that epithelial cells cocultured with fibroblasts formed a functional epithelial barrier at a quicker rate than single cultures of epithelial cells and that the recovery from allergen exposure was also more rapid. Also, our data show that dendritic cells within this model remain viable and responsive to external stimulation as evidenced by their migration within the 3D construct in response to allergen challenge. This model provides an easy to assemble and physiologically relevant 3D model of human airway epithelium that can be used for studies aiming at better understanding lung biology, the cross-talk between immune cells, and airborne allergens and pathogens as well as drug delivery.
Study in Molecular Pharmaceutics: Immunocompetent 3D Model of Human Upper Airway for Disease Modeling and In Vitro Drug Evaluation…
Press release: ‘3D’ test could reduce reliance on animals for testing asthma and allergy medications…
