The development of alternative methods of in vivo cultures for the toxicological evaluation of chemical molecules has accelerated this last years, in order to limit the use of animals. Recommended by the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), these alternative models are designed to mimic the physiological conditions using in vitro or in silico systems. Among the developed systems, microfluidic biochips have proven their contribution to the improvement of cellular functions, which allows relevant toxicological studies. This PhD thesis is based on the use of these biochips for hepatocytes culture and focus on the development of an analysis method for study these cultures under microscope over time using imaging. Image acquisition throughout the experiment enables to analyze, after image processing, the evolution and the behavior of cells in contact with chemical molecules and to evaluate toxicological responses. The first results of this work led to the optimization of the microfluidic cultures under the microscope used to get the image sequences, the selection of fluorescent probes and the development of an image processing system with CellProfiler. These works allowed the quantification and the characterization of some biological functions within the biochip such as the mitochondrial activity. Staurosporine, a well-known toxic, has been used to test the potential of this tool to evaluate the toxicity of molecules. The results showed the impact of dynamic culture on the hepatocytes behavior, and the staurosporine toxicity, in biochip cultures.
