The liver is a very fascinating organ since it shows remarkable regenerative capacity both after tissue resection and following toxic insults, due to a coordinated regenerative response mediated by epithelial and stromal liver cell types. This excellent regenerative capacity is crucial to maintain the key liver functions in the adult body such as nutrient storage and metabolism, regulation of blood glucose levels, bile production and drug detoxification. However, liver regenerative potential is overwhelmed by persistent liver injury (induced by metabolic dysfunctions, severe obesity, viral infections and alcohol abuse), which causes chronic liver disease and liver cancer.

The establishment of new embryonic and adult culture systems, which recapitulate a specific liver compartment or incorporate different epithelial and stromal liver cell types, represents an important advance in modelling liver regenerative processes and liver disease and cancer in a dish. The development of engineered scaffolds and chemically-defined matrices has recently enabled to grow such liver cultures in a more physiological environment. In addition, advanced imaging techniques in culture systems and in the liver tissue in vivo and high-throughput screening approaches, have significantly contributed to identify and characterise key processes implicated in liver regeneration and disease. 

This Methods Collection aims to present recently established culture systems and techniques used to study liver regeneration and model liver disease and cancer, in order to promote their accessibility to the liver scientific community and more in general to the field investigating regenerative processes and their implications in disease.