Bioprinting of a Hepatic Tissue Model Using Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Hepatocytes for Drug-Induced Hepatotoxicity Evaluation

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting technology is an effective method for exploring the biological functions of hepatocytes by building biomimetic 3D microenvironments. Various hepatic tissue models have been developed for disease modeling, drug screening, and tissue regeneration using 3D bioprinting technology. Human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are a promising cell source for the generation of functional hepatocytes for bioprinting. In this study, we introduced hiPSC-derived hepatocytes (hiPSC-Heps) as mature hepatocytes for the bioprinting of a 3D hepatic tissue model. The 3D-printed (3DP) model facilitated the formation of hiPSC-Hep spheroids with higher viability and proliferation than the commonly used non-printed sandwich-cultured model. hiPSC-Heps in the 3DP model exhibited higher mRNA expression of liver-specific functions than those in the two-dimensional-cultured model. Moreover, enhanced secretion of liver function-related proteins, including α-1-antitrypsin, albumin, and blood urea nitrogen, was observed in the 3DP model. For the evaluation of acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity, the 3DP model exhibited a favorable drug response with upregulation of the drug metabolism-related gene cytochrome P450-1A2 (CYP1A2). Overall, the bioprinted hepatic tissue model showed great biofunctional and drug-responsive performance, which could be potentially applied in in vitro toxicological studies.