Human liver tissue cell architecture reconstructed in 3D

Never-before-seen 3D reconstructions of human liver tissue have been created at a cellular level. The details obtained by a team of UW Medicine and University of Washington engineers and physicians capture the spatial microstructure of multiple lobes of this multitasking organ.

A healthy human liver can perform more than 500 functions essential to keeping our bodies healthy. These include detoxifying harmful substances, helping regulate metabolism, aiding digestion, storing nutrients, producing blood clotting proteins, and assisting in resisting infections.

The reconstructions also reveal how cirrhosis — extensive scarring of the liver — rearranges its intricate architecture and thereby alters biological activities inside the organ. 

The project researchers refer to their method as the Liver Map pipeline, which they describe in a paper in the Feb. 18 issue of Science Advances. Dr. Rotonya Carr, associate professor and head (Gastroenterology) is co-senior author.