Within the global pharmaceutical and biotech industries, there is significant interest in identifying in vitro screening systems that are more human-relevant—i.e., that offer greater utility in predicting subcellular and cellular physiological responses in humans in vivo—and that thereby allow investigators to reduce the incidence of costly late-stage failures during pharmaceutical clinical trials, as well as to reduce the use of animals in drug testing. Currently incumbent in vitro screening methods, such as culturing human hepatocytes in suspension, while useful, are limited by a lack of long term cellular function. In order to address this limitation, we have established an integrated, microfluidic, in vitro platform that combines the patented HμREL® microdevice with a hepatic coculture system. In the present report, we use this platform to study clearance and metabolite generation of a battery of molecular entities. The results show that the flow-based coculture system is capable of clearing, with improved resolution and predictive value, compounds with high, medium, and low clearance values. In addition, when coculture is coupled with flow, higher metabolite production rates are obtained than in static systems.

The liver is a major site for the metabolism of xenobiotic compounds due to its abundant level of phase I/II metabolic enzymes. With the cost of drug development escalating to over $400 million/ drug there is an urgent need for the development of rigorous models of hepatic metabolism for preclinical screening of drug clearance and hepatotoxicity. Here, we present a microenvironment in which primary human and rat hepatocytes maintain a high level of metabolic competence without a long adaptation period. We demonstrate that co-cultures of hepatocytes and endothelial cells in serum-free media seeded under 95% oxygen maintain functional apical and basal polarity, high levels of cytochrome P450 activity, and gene expression profiles on par with freshly isolated hepatocytes. These oxygenated co-cultures demonstrate a remarkable ability to predict in vivo drug clearance rates of both rapid and slow clearing drugs with an R 2 of 0.92. Moreover, as the metabolic function of oxygenated co-cultures stabilizes overnight, preclinical testing can be carried out days or even weeks before other culture methods, significantly reducing associated labor and cost. These results are readily extendable to other culture configurations including three-dimensional culture, bioreactor studies, as well as microfabricated co-cultures. drug discovery ͉ liver metabolism ͉ tissue engineering

Integral to the discovery of new pharmaceutical entities is the ability to predict in vivo pharmacokinetic parameters from early stage in vitro data generated prior to the onset of clinical testing. Within the pharmaceutical industry, a whole host of assay methods and mathematical models exist to predict the in vivo pharmacokinetic parameters of drug candidates. One of the most important pharmacokinetic properties of new drug candidates predicted from these methods and models is the hepatic clearance. Current methods, while useful, are still limited in their predictive efficacy. In order to address this issue, we have established a novel microfluidic in vitro culture system, the patented HμREL® device. The device comprises multiple compartments that are designed to be proportional to the physiological architectures and enhanced with the consideration of flow. Here we demonstrate the functionality of the liver-relevant chamber in the HμREL® device, and the feasibility of utilizing our system for predicting hepatic clearance. Cryopreserved human hepatocytes from a single donor were seeded within the HμREL® device to predict the in vivo hepatic clearance (CLH) of six marketed model compounds (carbamazepine, caffeine, timolol, sildenafil, imipramine, and buspirone). The intrinsic clearance rates from static culture controls, as well as clearance rates from the HμREL® device were subsequently compared to in vivo data available from the literature.

The relationship between microparticle (MP) size and lung targeting efficiency, intra-lung distribution and retention time was systematically studied after intravenous administration of rigid fluorescent polystyrene MPs of various sizes (2, 3, 6 and 10μm) to Sprague-Dawley rats. Total fluorescence was assessed and it was found that 2μm and 3μm MPs readily passed through the lung to the liver and spleen while 10μm MPs were completely entrapped in the lung for the one-week duration of the study. Approximately 84% of 6μm MPs that were initially entrapped in the lung were cleared over the next 2 days and 15% were cleared over the remaining 5 days. A Caliper IVIS® 100 small animal imaging system confirmed that 3μm MPs were not retained in the lung but that 6μm and 10μm MPs were widely distributed throughout the lung. Moreover, histologic examination showed MP entrapment in capillaries but not arterioles. These studies suggest that for rigid MPs the optimal size range required to achieve transient but highly efficiently targeting to pulmonary capillaries after IV injection is >6μm but <10μm in rats and that systemic administration of optimally sized MPs may be an efficient alternative to currently used inhalation-based delivery to the lung. KeywordsPassive pulmonary targeting; Rigid non-biodegradable microparticle; In vivo imaging

Large (>6 µm) rigid microparticles (MPs) become passively entrapped within the lungs following intravenous injection making them an attractive and highly efficient alternative to inhalation for pulmonary delivery. In the current studies, PEGylated 6 μm polystyrene MPs with multiple copies of the norvaline (Nva) α-amino acid prodrug of camptothecin (CPT) were prepared. Surface morphology was characterized using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). CPT was released from the CPT-Nva-MPs over 24 hours in rat plasma at 37°C. In vivo CPT plasma concentrations were low (~1 ng/mL or less) and constant over a period of 4 days after a single intravenous injection of CPT-Nva-MPs as compared to high but short-lived systemic exposures after an IV injection of free CPT. This suggests that sustained local CPT concentrations were achieved in the lung after administration of the MP delivery system. Anti-cancer efficacy was evaluated in an orthotopic lung cancer animal model and compared to a bolus injection of CPT. Animals receiving either free CPT (2 mg/kg) or CPT-Nva-MPs (0.22 mg/kg CPT, 100 mg/kg MPs) were found to have statistically significant smaller areas of lung cancer (P<0.05, P<0.01, respectively) than untreated animals. In addition, 40% of the animals receiving CPT-Nva-MPs were found to be free of cancer. The CPT dose using targeted MPs was ten fold lower than after IV injection of free CPT but was more effective in reducing the amount of cancerous areas. In conclusion, CPT-Nva-MPs were able to achieve effective local lung and low systemic CPT concentrations at a dose that was ten times lower than systemically administered CPT resulting in a significant improvement in anticancer efficacy in an orthotopic rat model of lung cancer.