Sekisui XenoTech now offers human liver tissue microarrays (TMA) and a microsomal pool for studying and developing new treatments for fatty liver disease (FLD). The microsomes and arrays feature non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) and other liver tissue from the company’s Research Biobank . The initiative is part of Sekisui XenoTech’s ongoing commitment to furthering knowledge of hepatic diseases.
“Fatty liver disease is a highly pervasive condition that has a very significant impact on the health of modern society. We are supporting hepatology researchers with these collections of high-quality human tissues to advance basic knowledge of FLD and to develop new treatments for the illness,” explained Maciej Czerwinski, Ph.D., Sekisui XenoTech Director of Consulting who led the effort to establish the company’s research Biobank and develop the microarrays.
Tissue microarrays are tools for the analysis of disease biomarkers in well-defined patient populations. A selection of tissue arrays focused on NASH (TMA.NASH), steatohepatitis with a history of alcohol use (TMA.ASH) and steatosis without and with history of alcohol use (TMA.NAS, TMA.AS) is readily available. The placement of targeted disease tissues and appropriate controls in the same arrays facilitates comparative analysis of biomarker distribution. Tissue donors’ data, including BMI and macrovesicular fat content, accompany the arrays. These arrays are built with Research Biobank tissues harvested with intent for human transplantation, ensuring optimal quality.
The images below of hematoxylin/eosin (Fig. 1) and Masson’s trichrome-stained (Fig.2) arrays illustrate histology and fibrosis on 3 mm diameter cores.
Similarly, the new pool of microsomes was prepared from several donors diagnosed with NASH. Human liver microsomes are commonly used to support in vitro ADME studies (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion) because of the representative composition of hepatic drug metabolizing enzymes. The newly developed NASH pool is most suitable for the analysis of human drug metabolism in well-characterized disease samples.
In addition to microarrays, some of the Research Biobank liver tissue samples are individually available in buffer (pre-lysate), paraffin blocks and slides or as hepatocyte and subcellular fraction isolations. Tissues from other organs can also be processed in the same way as custom production. Get in touch with me for any special requests, I’ll be pleased to suggest the best solution for you!
