LONG-TERM CULTURE OF RAT HEPATOCYTES ON POROUS MEMBRANES IN HORMONALLY DEFINED SERUM-FREE MEDIUM

Rat hepatocytes were cultured on type I collagen-coated porous membran es, in Waxman's modified medium supplemented with very low concentrati ons of insulin (10(-9) m), glucagon (10(-10) M) and dexamethasone (10( -8) m). Under these experimental conditions, specific differentiated f unctions were well preserved for at least 15 days, as shown by measure s of albumin secretion, EROD and PROD activities, by phase contrast mi croscopy and PAS and ORO staining for intracellular glycogen and lipid contents. These results suggest that this experimental system may be very useful for long-term in vitro pharmacotoxicological studies.