H. Farghali et al., PREPARATION OF FUNCTIONALLY ACTIVE IMMOBILIZED AND PERFUSED MAMMALIAN-CELLS - AN EXAMPLE OF THE HEPATOCYTE BIOREACTOR, Physiological Research, 43(2), 1994, pp. 121-125
In the present study, a method has been employed for hepatocyte immobi
lization in agarose threads which allows for cell perfusion. The rat h
epatocytes are isolated from the liver. A 1.8 % low-gelling agarose so
lution is prepared in warm Krebs-Henseleit solution. The agarose solut
ion is mixed 1:1 with the hepatocytes and the cells are immobilized in
agarose threads by extruding the agarose-cell mixture through cooled
Chemfluor teflon (TFE) tubing. Light and electron microscopy studies i
ndicated the integrity of the hepatocytes in the gel matrix. This syst
em allows for liver cell perfusion and viability studies to be carried
out non-invasively on the cells and provides data that are comparable
to those obtained with a perfused isolated liver. Immobilized hepatoc
ytes are an in vitro system worthy of further evaluation which may be
useful in the studies of liver cell metabolism and the response of the
liver to foreign chemicals.