Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Liver, Artificial

Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans ; Liver ; cytology ; Stem Cells ; cytology

Cell Death ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; pathology ; Humans

Hepatic Stellate Cells ; cytology ; Hepatocytes ; pathology

Animals ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Mice ; Stem Cell Transplantation ; Stem Cells ; cytology

Animals ; Endothelial Cells ; cytology ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans ; Liver Regeneration

Animals ; Cell Culture Techniques ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans ; Liver, Artificial

Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans ; Liver Failure ; therapy ; Liver, Artificial

The temporary function replacement and intensive support play a pivotal role in the treatment of patients with acute or chronic end-stage organ failure. The hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis have become routine techniques in the management of acute or chronic renal failure. But for the complexity of hepatic function, e.g. metabolism, biosynthesis and biotransformation for endogenous or exogenous substrates, the simulation or partial replacement of hepatic function is a great dream of bionic technologists. With the development of cell biology and biomedical material, the combination of biomaterial and the hepatocyte cultured ex vivo could provide a range of human liver-specific functions. The combination of biomaterial and viable cell was called hybrid or bioartificial liver support system (BALSS). It is a chimera of biomaterials and hepatocytes. The bionic technologists study the cell and its culture in vitro, which is the main component of BASLL. Many types of BALSS were translated into the early clinical stage. In this overview, we review the hepatocyte culture and the design of different bioreactors. It includes the immune obstacles in xeno-hemoperfusion and how to assess pre-clinical and clinical effectiveness.
Bioreactors ; Cells, Cultured ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans ; Liver, Artificial

OBJECTIVETo investigate the phenotypic characteristics of human fetal liver cells (FLCs) and to obtain the homogenous hepatic progenitors with cloning.

METHODSImmunofluorescence and flow cytometry were used to determine the phenotypes of the FLCs. The proliferating colonies were isolated using clone ring in different culture conditions. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to determine the mRNA expression after further cultivation.

RESULTSThe cultured FLCs showed a non-typical epithelial morphology. The positive rate for hepatic cell specific markers alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), albumin (Alb), cytokeratin 8 (CK8) and CK19 were approximately 28.1%, 84.7%, 55.1% and 9.1% respectively. Furthermore, the FLCs expressed the hematopoietic stem cell markers CD34 and CD45 with percentages of 0.04% and 0.09%. 71.8% and 75.3% of the FLCs were positive for the mesenchymal cell marker CD105 and CD166. Most of the colonies showed an elongated morphology, some with an unregular spreading-out morphology, only a small number of colonies with an epithelial-like morphology. RT-PCR results showed that among the 19 colonies obtained after further cultivation and the percentages of epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), AFP, Alb and CK19 were 52.6%, 21.1%, 52.6% and 84.2%, respectively.

CONCLUSIONSThe clonal culture system is beneficial to obtain the homogenous hepatic progenitor cells from the heterogeneous culture of FLCs.

Cell Culture Techniques ; Cell Differentiation ; Cells, Cultured ; Fetus ; cytology ; Hepatocytes ; cytology ; Humans ; Stem Cells ; cytology