3D-Printed Liver Tissue Goes Commercial

A San Diego-based company has 3D printed the first commercially available human liver tissue.

Organovo has developed and released the exVive3D Human Liver Tissue, which is available to customers through the company's contract research services program.

The tissue initially will be used in medical research and testing to study the effect of drugs on the liver, Michael Renard, executive vice president of commercial operations for Organovo, told Design News. All testing will be performed at Organovo's facility by the company's laboratory services tissue experts.

Renard described to us in a bit more detail the composition of the exVive3D Human Liver Tissue:

Organovo printed the tissue using a proprietary bioprinting platform that builds living tissues that are functional and stable for at least 42 days and contain precise and reproducible architecture.

The liver isn't the only human tissue Organovo has produced using this platform, Renard told us. The company also has developed lung, kidney, breast, blood vessel, bone, muscle, and peripheral nerve tissue.

Though the current exVive3D liver design would not be applicable to liver transplants or other use in human patients, future applications of the tissue include adding to it "a disease element such as a cancer or fibrosis for the advanced study of the mechanisms of liver related conditions," Renard said.

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