[Design of a hollow-fiber bioreactor and perfusion study in vitro]

This article presents the design of a bioreactor using hollow fiber membrane and, isolated hepatocytes of suckling pigs, and the experimental study of its efficacy in vitro. Liver cells were harvested from suckling pigs with collagenase perfusion in situ, and parenchymal and non-parenchymal hepatocytes were cocultured in a hollow fiber module which was rotated sporadically. Bioartificial liver(BAL) was developed using this bioreactor,and the BAL was perfused with ascites of patients suffering from liver cirrhosis. The yield of viable hepatocytes was (6.29 +/- 0.37) x 10(8) cells, and cell viability was greater than 84%. Hepatocytes aggregated to multi-cells spheroids after being rotated every thirty minutes for three hours. The hepatocytes in the bioreactor could synthesize urea. Total billirubin was decreased, and AST was significantly increased in the group of bioreactor, as compared with that in the control group. Glucose decreased in the group of bioreactor,whereas there was no significant descent in the control group; and the difference between the two groups was significant. The above results demonstrate that this bioreactor is effective for decreasing total bilirubin and glucose.