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Updated: May 22, 2026

Isolation and 3D Collagen Sandwich Culture of Primary Mouse Hepatocytes to Study the Role of Cytoskeleton in Bile Canalicular Formation In Vitro
Published on: December 20, 2019
Cellular mechanism of bile acid-accelerated hepatocyte polarity
Dong Fu1, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Irwin M Arias
1Cell Biology and Metabolism Program; Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; National Institutes of Health; Bethesda, MD USA.
Abstract:
We recently discovered that the major mammalian bile acid, taurocholate, accelerated polarity in primary rat hepatocytes. Taurocholate increased cellular cAMP and signals through an Epac-Rap1-MEK-LKB1-AMPK pathway for its polarity effect. This review discusses possible mechanisms for how taurocholate affects different cell polarity factors, particularly AMPK, and thereby regulates events that generate polarity. These include tight junction formation, apical trafficking, recycling endosome dynamics, and cytoskeleton rearrangement. We also discuss whether the effects of taurocholate are mediated by other LKB1 downstream kinases, such as Par1 and NUAK1.
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