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Adult liver parenchymal cells in primary culture: Characteristics and cell recognition standards

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Primary cultures provide one method for studying liver biochemistry in vitro. The short term incubations of isolated cells employ homogenous cell populations, incubated in completely defined media. These cells are capable of exhibiting several of the in vivo functions. The long term cultures derived from adult liver parenchymal cells offer different advantages. For example, these cells can be cloned, isolated, injected into animals, and induced to synthesize increased amounts of some cell-specific enzymes. Organ cultures of adult liver are yet another in vitro system yielding important information on liver function.

The primary system described in this report consists of a homogenous population of adult liver parenchymal cells. The results of this study, together with the reports of Bissell et al. (54) and Pariza et al. (43), demonstrate that such a culture can perform many of the specific functions characteristic of the adult liver in vivo. Maintenance of the differentiated state for as long as 4 days in vitro by this type of system, therefore, offers many applications for the study of the regulation of adult liver metabolism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research, University of Wisconsin, 53706, Madison, Wisconsin

    Robert J. Bonney

  2. Division of Laboratories and Research, New York State Department of Health, 12201, Albany, New York

    Robert J. Bonney

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The work was supported in part by National Cancer Institute Grant A-51304-01

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Bonney, R.J. Adult liver parenchymal cells in primary culture: Characteristics and cell recognition standards. In Vitro 10, 130–142 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02615346

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