Lack of effect of medium supplementation with pyruvate and hormones on cytochrome P450-mediated activity of rat hepatocytes in primary culture

The loss of cytochrome P450 (CYP)-dependent activity continues to be a prob lem in the use of cultured hepatocytes in xenobiotic toxicity studies. It h as been reported that the inclusion of pyruvate and various hormones in the culture medium improves the maintenance of various hepatic functions, incl uding that of CYP2C11 mRNA expression. We have studied this further, by inv estigating the effects of the addition of pyruvate and hormones on various CYP-dependent enzyme activities and on the CYP-dependent toxicity of precoc ene II in rat hepatocyte cultures. No beneficial effects of this medium sup plementation could be demonstrated.