Free radicals appear to affect survival of hepatocytes at 4 degrees C

1) Rat hepatocytes, stored in a simple salts medium for 24 h at 4 degrees C, retain more than 80% of their capacity to synthesize glucose from lactate. 2) The combination of NH4Cl with oleate is cytotoxic during storage and during subsequent incubation of hepatocytes from 48 h starved rats, but not to hepatocytes from fed rats. 3) Protection against cytotoxicity is afforded by albumin and by a number of other compounds, notably polyols and glycerol. 4) These compounds appear to exert their effects by scavenging free radicals and, in the case of polyols and glycerol, by supplying reducing equivalents to maintain the redox state of the cell in the face of increased flux through glutathione peroxidase.