Towards an in-Vitro Liver Lobule Model

In-vitro culture of liver cells on bio-inspired chips., namely liver-on-chip, to form a 3D hepatic tissue morphologically close to its in-vivo counterpart is rapidly emerging for drug testing applications. This paper reports preliminary results towards fabrication of an in-vitro model of the smallest functional liver unit, which is the hepatic lobule. Simultaneous fabrication of out-of-plane micro-channels interconnected by in-plane nanometric-channels is demonstrated by electrochemical etching of n-type silicon in aqueous (48%) HF: (30%) H2O2=1:1 (by vol.) electrolyte through the synergistic work of back-side illumination, avalanche breakdown, and high oxidizing power chemicals.