What is ex vivo research?

By Kirsty Mahoney, Clinical Manager, Wound Care People

When thinking about how research findings apply to clinical practice, it is helpful to understand the different types of research and what they can and can’t tell us. In this article, Kirsty Mahoney looks at the place of ex vivo research in the range of possible study types.

When researchers aim to understand how medications or treatments influence living systems, they often face complex scientific and ethical considerations (Shelar et al, 2023). In an earlier article, we explored in vivo research – studies carried out within a living organism. In vivo methods involve whole organisms such as humans, laboratory animals, or plants (Dornell, 2023; Eske, 2023) and allow researchers to observe biological processes as they naturally occur (Shelar et al, 2023). In many cases, in vivo experiments help determine the initial safety and effectiveness of new treatments before they progress to human trials (Dornell, 2023; Shelar et al, 2023). However, these studies can be time-intensive and costly, and they do not always accurately reflect the complex processes that occur in the human body (Xu et al, 2021).

Another important approach is ex vivo research. This method examines biological tissue that has been removed from an organism but maintained in conditions that preserve its normal function (Shelar et al, 2023). The term ‘ex vivo’ literally means ‘out of the living’. In these studies, tissues, cells, or even organs are kept viable, often using nutrient solutions or specialised perfusion systems, to allow researchers to investigate how they respond to various interventions (Xu et al, 2021).
Both in vivo and ex vivo methods are widely used to advance understanding of human diseases and to support the development of new therapies (Shelar et al, 2023).

Ex vivo techniques serve as a bridge between simple cell cultures and complex animal models (Kapila et al, 2017).Because intact tissues are used, this approach can capture biological responses that are more realistic than standard cell culture, while still offering the controlled environment of a laboratory (Xu et al, 2021; Shelar et al, 2023). This helps fill knowledge gaps that arise when using only one type of model.
 

Examples of ex vivo research

• Examination of freshly collected human or animal tissues – such as skin, blood vessels, or tumour samples
• Organ perfusion studies, where organs such as hearts or lungs are kept functioning outside the body to explore the effects of a specific drug or preservation strategies
• Experiments using newly isolated immune cells to study their behaviour or response to treatments.

Why use ex vivo methods?

Ex vivo research offers several advantages:

• It provides detailed insight into how drugs or compounds work at the tissue or cellular level
• It complements in vivo studies – while in vivo work can highlight potential treatments, ex vivo studies can clarify mechanisms of action and help refine dosing or delivery strategies
• It allows precise manipulation of experimental conditions, including drug concentration and exposure time
• It enables the study of specific tissues or cells without interference from whole-body variables
• It produces more biologically realistic data than traditional cell culture models
• It is generally less expensive, quicker to conduct, and avoids many ethical concerns associated with direct testing on living subjects.

(Xu et al, 2021; Shelar et al, 2023).
 

Limitations of ex vivo research

• The results may be less reliable in predicting whole-organism responses
• Ex vivo systems can be less sensitive than in vivo systems, making it harder to detect subtle or long-term drug effects.

Conclusions

Ex vivo research plays an important role in healthcare and scientific studies by allowing biological tissues to be examined outside the body while maintaining much of their natural function. This approach provides valuable insight into disease mechanisms and drug effects under controlled conditions, while reducing ethical concerns associated with in vivo testing. Although ex vivo methods cannot fully replicate the complexity of the whole human body, they complement in vivo and in vitro research and contribute significantly to the development and optimisation of safe and effective treatments.
 

References

Dornell J (2023) In vivo and in vitro: definition, pros and cons. https://www.technologynetworks.com/drug-discovery/articles/in-vivo-vs-in-vitro-definition-pros-and-cons-350415 (accessed 11 December 2025)

Eske J (2023) What is the difference between in vivo and in vitro? https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/in-vivo-vs-in-vitro (accessed 12 December 2025)

Kapila R, Kapila S, Vij R (2017) Efficacy of milk derived bioactive peptides on health by cellular and animal models. In: Watson RR, Collier RJ, Preedy VR, eds. Nutrients in dairy and their implications for health and disease. Academic Press: New York, NY, USA: 303–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-809762-5.00023-1

Shelar S, Mujawar NK, Chakorkar SS (2023) In-vivo and ex-vivo methods: advancing the frontiers of ocular pharmacological research. International Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research. 15(1):78-86.

Xu Y, Shrestha N, Préat V, Beloqui A (2021) An overview of in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo models for studying the transport of drugs across intestinal barriers. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 175:113795. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addr.2021.05.005