[Primary hepatocyte cultures as a model of experimental study of liver preservation]

Primary hepatocyte cultures have been used to evaluate data concerning hypoxic liver cell injury. To show the suitability of this method in liver preservation studies hepatocyte cultures were incubated under different conditions: warm normoxia (37 degrees C, pO2 greater than 70 mm Hg), warm hypoxia (37 degrees C, pO2 less than 0.1 mm Hg), cold normoxia (4 degrees C, pO2 greater than 70 mm Hg) and cold hypoxia (4 degrees C, pO2 less than 0.1 mm Hg). Incubations were performed in Euro Collins solution (EC), University of Wisconsin solution of Belzer (UW) and histidine ketoglutarat tryptophan solution of Bretschneider (HTK) as well as in Krebs Henseleit buffer (KH) for control incubations. During 12 h of incubation hepatocyte cultures under warm normoxia lost viability continuously in EC, UW and HTK while in KH they remained stable. Under warm normoxia all cultures lost 50% of their viability during 12 h of incubation while in cold normoxia loss of viability was mild but significant. Under cold anoxia which is the standard condition of liver preservation the cultured hepatocytes remained unchanged for 12 h in KH, UW and HTK, while in EC most of the cells were dead after 6 h. It is concluded that incubations of primary hepatocyte cultures under different pO2 and temperatures are well suited to contribute to liver preservation studies on a preclinical level and thus may help to save animal experiments.