Metabolic activity in primary cultures of fish hepatocytes

In aquatic toxicology, isolated liver cells from fish can be used as a tool to generate initial information on the hepatic metabolism of xenobiotics, and on the mechanisms of xenobiotic activation or deactivation. This isolat ion. of teleost liver cells is achieved by enzymic dissociation, and monola yer cultures of fish hepatocytes in serum-free medium maintain good viabili ty for 3-8 days. During in vitro culture, fish liver cells express stable l evels of phase I and phase II enzymes, such as cytochrome P4501A or glutath ione S-transferase, and the cells show an induction of biotransformation en zymes after exposure to xenobiotics. The xenobiotic metabolite pattern prod uced by fish hepatocytes in vitro is generally similar to that observed in vivo. Limitations to more-intensive application of cultured fish hepatocyte s as a screen in aquatic hazard assessment are partly due to the rather lim ited scope of existing studies, i.e. the focus on one particular species (r ainbow trout), and on one particular biotransformation enzyme (cytochrome P 4501A), as well as a lack of comparative in vitro/in vivo studies.