Construction of 3D hierarchical vascular networks in a cm-sized liver tissue using magnetic fields

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23K13291
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Basic Section 20020:Robotics and intelligent system-related
Research Institution	Nagoya University
Principal Investigator	金恩恵名古屋大学, 未来社会創造機構, 研究員 (30972517)
Project Period (FY)	2023-04-01 – 2026-03-31
Project Status	Granted (Fiscal Year 2023)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,680,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,080,000) Fiscal Year 2025: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000) Fiscal Year 2024: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000) Fiscal Year 2023: ¥1,820,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥420,000)
Keywords	Micromanipulation / Magntic tweezer / Vascular network / Liver tissue / Magnetic field / 3D cellular structure / 3D vascular network / tissue engineering
Outline of Research at the Start	I will construct 3D hierarchical vascular networks in centimeter-sized live tissues in vitro using magnetic fields. The target size is a liver having 13cm of diameter and hierarchical vessels from portal vein to hepatic sinusoids.
Outline of Annual Research Achievements	In the first year, we designed magnetic tweezers for constructing 3D hierarchical vascular networks in a cm-sized liver tissue. In addition, we fabricated several patterns of vascular network in cellular structure in order to compare the efficiency of the vascular networks. For this, we fabricated several patterns of vascular networks; without vascular network, with vertical channel, and with 3D hierarchical channels. After 3 weeks, the cell viability of four samples were analyzed and we found that the tissue having 3D hierarchical channels show higher cell viability than others. From the result, we can see that the fabricated 3D hierarchical channels can supply the nutrient and oxygen to the cells in tissues and improve the cell condition after a long-term culture..
Current Status of Research Progress	Current Status of Research Progress 2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned. Reason In accordance with the original research plan, we designed the magnetic tweezers and verified the efficiency of channel networks by comparing tissue haing several patterns of vascular networks.
Strategy for Future Research Activity	In the next step, we will apply perfusable network within 3D cellular structure by adding circulation system and then to transform from the empty channels to vascular network, I will seed human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to the channels and perfuse the culture medium to the vascular networks. Finally, we will analyze cell condition and liver function of constructed tissue.