Human In Vitro Testing

Everyday scientists perform different tests on cells (known as in vitro testing) to assess numerous concepts, such as drug efficiency and nanoparticle toxicity. Unfortunately, these tests do not always provide the best or most accurate results since the human body is composed of several different cell types, all of which interact and cause robust responses that cannot accurately be mimicked or studied with single cells. Thus, current techniques are being employed to imitate the complexity of the human body by using more than two cell lines combined together.

Previous techniques used single cell types, or what is commonly known as a monoculture system to study cellular responses. This is often used for simplicity and for studying single cellular responses rather than cellular interactions. It is useful for studying the general response cells may have under experimental conditions, such as testing toxic materials. It is also useful for studying the mechanisms by which the toxic material exerts their effects. Unfortunately, it is not useful for measuring cellular responses following cell signaling mechanisms. For example, one cell type may not be damaged by a toxic particle whereas a different cell type may be damaged or even killed following exposure. This response is due to the different responsibilities of different cells. Some cell types are capable of controlling for toxicity, while others are not designed to handle toxicity and typically rely on other cells to protect them. This has resulted in inaccurate measurements of nanoparticle toxicity when compared to toxic exposures in animals or humans. This is due to the complex cellular system in living creatures compared to the simplistic monoculture model. For example if scientis...

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...signal to each other to change the response. This model provides a more accurate representation of how the human body would respond to a toxic nanoparticle since it is more complex and allows for cellular interactions and robust responses. This model is also useful if scientists are interested in studying animal responses to the nanoparticle, since the measured results are more accurate compared to monoculture models.

Monocultures have long been used for toxicity testing. While they provide many benefits, their ability to represent what may occur in humans or animals is not sufficient. Co-cultures are able to better represent complex systems because bodies have more than one cell type that would respond following exposure. This complexity allows for cellular interactions which can more closely represent human and animal responses.