Primary liver cell cultures grown on gas permeable membrane as source for the collection of primary bile

Isolated rat hepatocytes maintained in primary culture on gas permeable membrane for 20 h form monolayers and establish at their cell borders a network of canaliculi (approximate diameter 3.5 micron). In the presence of the known choleretic bile acid dehydrocholate, dilation of canaliculi occurs. When nonfluorescent carboxyfluorescein diacetate ester is added to the culture medium, fluorescent carboxyfluorescein appears in the intracanalicular space. In the dilated state, fluid containing the fluorescent compound could be collected from the canaliculi by puncture with a micropipette. The intracanalicular space shows a negative electrical potential difference of 31 mV in reference to the bath solution and is 13.5 mV more positive with reference to recordings from the cytosol of cultured rat hepatocytes. Cultured rat hepatocytes grown on gas permeable membrane are energetically stable over 3 d. On Day 4, ATP levels increase markedly, whereas Na+-K+-ATPase activity declines. Ionic composition of hepatocytes, as measured by electronprobe element analysis on cryosection samples, does not change markedly during monolayer formation. With formation of bile canaliculi, the activity of alkaline phosphatase rapidly increases within 24 h and is stable for the next 3 d. Within that time the activity of gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase, however, increases steadily, reaching a 1.6-fold higher activity than freshly isolated hepatocytes. Bile acids appear in the culture supernatant after 1 d. When unconjugated [14C]cholic acid is added to the cultures the supernatant contains also [14C]tauro- and [14C]glycocholic acid, indicating the preservation of conjugation capacity in these cultures. Total bile acid concentrations in the supernatant increase from 5 to 26 microM on Day 4. The cultures do not secrete alpha-fetoprotein. Monolayer cultures of hepatocytes in the presence of choleretic bile acids seem to be a suitable model system to collect and to analyze the composition of primary bile. In conjunction with the electrical parameters, it is possible to describe directly properties of bile secretion at the canalicular pole of the intact hepatocyte.