In vitro and in vivo evaluation of albumin synthesis rate of porcine hepatocytes in a flat-plate bioreactor

Several configurations of extracorporeal bioartificial liver devices have b een developed for the potential treatment of fulminant hepatic failure or a s a bridge to liver transplantation. Recently, we developed a micro-channel flat-plate bioreactor with an internal membrane oxygenator in which porcin e hepatocytes are cultured as a monolayer on the bottom glass surface. In t he present study, we investigated synthetic function of porcine hepatocytes in the bioreactor in both in vitro and in vivo flow circuit models. In vit ro, albumin synthesis was stable in the bioreactor for up to 4 days of perf usion. In vivo, with the extracorporeal connection of the bioreactor to rat vasculature, porcine albumin was detectable for 24 h in the rat plasma. We also developed a simple mathematical model to predict the in vivo porcine albumin concentration in rat plasma. These results indicate that this confi guration of a microchannel flat-plate bioreactor has potential as a liver s upport device and warrants further investigation.