HEPATOBILIARY FUNCTION AND TOXICITY IN-VITRO USING ISOLATED HEPATOCYTE COUPLETS

1. Hepatocyte couplets can be routinely prepared from rat liver to pro duce a suitable in vitro model for polarized primary cells. 2. Centrif ugal elutriation provides a means of producing enriched subpopulations of periportal and perivenous couplets from the same liver, thus provi ding a means of studying the influence of zonal heterogeneity on hepat obiliary function. 3. The maintenance of structural and secretory pola rity demonstrated by hepatocyte couplets provides a convenient in vitr o system for mechanistic studies of factors both regulatory and advers ely affecting hepatobiliary functions. 4. Couplets are also uniquely a ppropriate for specific studies of regulation at the biliary pole, on the performance of junctions and on the maintenance and rate of transc ytotic movement. 5. The possibility also exists that effects of an in vivo pre-exposure to agents causing hepatobiliary dysfunction can be a ssessed in couplets ex vivo.