Culture Conditions Promoting Hepatocyte Proliferation and Cell Cycle Synchronization

The liver overcomes damages induced by harmful substances or viral infections and allows the use of extended resection in human therapy through its remarkable ability to regenerate. The regeneration process relies on the massive proliferation of differentiated hepatocytes that exit quiescence and undergo a limited number of cell cycles to restore the hepatic mass. Many discoveries on the regulation of hepatocyte proliferation have benefited from the use of in vitro models of cultures of primary hepatocytes as well as hepatoma cells as opposed to data obtained from in vivo models of liver regeneration, such as following partial hepatectomy in rodents. In this chapter, the most pertinent in vitro models used to promote the proliferation of hepatocytes and technical procedures to synchronize their progression throughout the cell cycle are presented with the goal to investigate the regulation of the hepatocyte cell cycle and the molecular pathways regulating liver regeneration.