Maintenance and reversibility of active albumin secretion by adult rat hepatocytes co-cultured with another liver epithelial cell type.

When adult rat hepatocytes were co-cultured with another liver epithelial cell type in a medium supplemented or not with fetal calf serum (FCS), it was found that 1. They survived for more than 2 months 2. Albumin secretion levels remained high over the whole culture period 3. Decreased secretion might be reversed 4. This protein secretion activity appeared to be dependent upon both the presence of cell-cell contacts and the production of an extracellular material. The results demonstrate for the first time long-term stabilization and reversibility of a specific function (albumin secretion) at high levels by adult hepatocytes cultured in serum-free medium and suggest that both the presence of other liver cell type(s) and the production of an extracellular matrix are needed for the maintenance of specific functions in cultured hepatocytes.

[1]  H. Gordon,et al.  A Simple Method for the Silver Impregnation of Reticulum. , 1936, The American journal of pathology.

[2]  P. Seglen.  Preparation of rat liver cells. II. Effects of ions and chelators on tissue dispersion. , 1973, Experimental cell research.

[3]  M. Rissel,et al.  Ultrastructural Localization of α-fetoprotein in isolated and cultured rat hepatocytes , 1981 .

[4]  T. Takaoka,et al.  Collagen fiber formation as a common property of epithelial liver cell lines in culture. , 1978, Experimental cell research.

[5]  R. Langenbach,et al.  Maintenance of adult rat hepatocytes on C3H/10T1/2 cells. , 1979, Cancer research.

[6]  M. Szajnert,et al.  "Spontaneous" neoplastic transformation in vitro of epithelial cell strains of rat liver: cytology, growth and enzymatic activities. , 1978, European journal of cancer.

[7]  D Herbage,et al.  Collagen immunotyping in human liver: light and electron microscope study. , 1980, The journal of histochemistry and cytochemistry : official journal of the Histochemistry Society.

[8]  F. Schapira,et al.  Modification of pyruvate kinase isozymes in prolonged primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes. , 1975, Biochimie.

[9]  U. Meyer,et al.  Parenchymal cells from adult rat liver in nonproliferating monolayer culture. I. Functional studies. , 1973, The Journal of cell biology.

[10]  J. Raymond,et al.  Formation of intercellular collagen matrix by cultured liver epithelial cells and loss of its ability in hepatocarcinogenesis in vitro. , 1981, Differentiation; research in biological diversity.

[11]  M Rojkind,et al.  Connective tissue biomatrix: its isolation and utilization for long- term cultures of normal rat hepatocytes , 1980, The Journal of cell biology.

[12]  G. Michalopoulos,et al.  Primary culture of parenchymal liver cells on collagen membranes. Morphological and biochemical observations. , 1975, Experimental cell research.

[13]  D. Friend,et al.  HIGH-YIELD PREPARATION OF ISOLATED RAT LIVER PARENCHYMAL CELLS , 1969, The Journal of cell biology.

[14]  J. Foidart,et al.  SYNTHESIS OF COLLAGEN BY RAT LIVER EPITHELIAL CULTURES , 1980, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.