Zyoxel launched the Tissueflex system - suitable for routine 3D perfused cell culture applications - at the Society of Toxicology 50th Annual Meeting in Washington DC.
According to the company, Tissueflex addresses the missing link between conventional 2D assays and in-vivo studies, providing a true 3D platform for in-vitro cultures with more in-vivo-like behaviour to improve the predictivity of drug safety and efficacy testing.
The benefits of 3D culture, in terms of cell viability, morphology, expression and function, are known; however, until now, tissue culture solutions have been relatively complex products that have lacked the scope, versatility and robustness to achieve widespread use in pharmaceutical research and development, said Zyoxel.
Tissueflex is described as a simple off-the-shelf product for routine 3D perfusion cell culture.
The system comprises a micro-bioreactor, which is used with a specially designed incubator and a syringe pump to enable 3D perfusion culture.
At the heart of the Tissueflex system is the company's patent-pending Tissueflex Microbioreactor, a multi-well unit formed from a gas-permeable biocompatible polymer.
Each well is individually perfused, providing a microchemostat environment optimal for tissue culture and enabling the straightforward collection of perfusate for analysis.
Tissueflex is suitable for low-volume, high-content assays, offering more human-relevant mechanistic insights from tissue-level models.
To demonstrate the versatility of Tissueflex, Zyoxel and its collaborators have generated function and drug effect data for a variety of human and animal adult and stem-cell types.
Tissueflex-based tissue cultures are stable and highly functional over several weeks, enabling longer-term studies to identify potential chronic drug effects.
