Removing Extracellular Matrix From the Cell Surface Prior to Seeding Enhances the Adhesion of Primary Human...

Primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) are currently the gold standard for developing human-relevant in vitro liver cell culture models for studies of pathological conditions, compound screening, and metabolism and toxicity testing in the drug discovery process. However, PHHs exhibit variable adhesiveness to culture vessels, which limits their utility. In this study, we investigated the cause of this unstable adhesiveness of PHHs. We observed that non-adhering PHHs have some kind of extracellular matrix (ECM) on the surface, and these ECMs inhibit cell adhesion to culture vessels. Removal of ECMs from the cell surface of non-adhering PHHs improved the attachment of the cells to culture vessels. Our findings yield a method to generate stable adhesion cultures of PHHs and contribute to developing hepatocyte research by expanding hepatocyte applications.