COMPARISON OF 5 INCUBATION SYSTEMS FOR RAT-LIVER SLICES USING FUNCTIONAL AND VIABILITY PARAMETERS

Precision-cut liver slices are presently used for various research obj ects, e.g. to study metabolism, transport, and toxicity of xenobiotics . Various incubation systems are presently employed, but a systematic comparison between these incubation systems with respect to preservati on of slice function has not been performed yet. Therefore, we started a comparative study to evaluate five of these systems: the shaken fla sk (an Erlenmeyer in a shaking water bath), the stirred-well (24-well culture plate equipped with grids and magnetic stirrers), rocker platf orm (6-well culture plate with Netwell insert rocked on a platform), t he roller system (dynamic organ culture rolled on an insert in a glass vial), and the 6-well shaker (6-well culture plate in a shaking water bath). The liver slices were incubated in these incubation systems fo r 0.5, 1.5, and 24.5 h and subsequently subjected to viability and met abolic function tests. The viability of the incubated liver slices was evaluated by potassium content, MTT assay, energy charge, histomorpho logy, and LDH leakage. Their metabolic functions were studied by deter mination of the metabolism of lidocaine, testosterone, and antipyrine. Up to 1.5 h of incubation all five incubation systems gave similar re sults with respect to viability and metabolic function of the liver sl ices. However, after 24 h, the shaken flask, the rocker platform, and the 6-well shaker incubation systems appeared to be superior to the st irred well and the roller incubation systems. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scienc e Inc.