Phenotypic Assessment of Toxicity using a Human Hepatocyte Co-Culture Model

Development of predictive in-vitro assays for early toxicity evaluation is extremely important for improving the drug development process and reducing drug attrition rates during clinical trials. This application note presents an alternative model in which the cells remain functional over a prolonged treatment period, by developing a phenotypic assay which assesses multi-parameter readouts of general and mechanism-specific hepatotoxicity. The hepatocyte islands (~500 mm diameter) were imaged with an ImageXpress® Micro XLS high-content imaging system. Automated analysis was performed using an optimized Custom Module in MetaXpress® software.