[Hepatocyte transplantation].
Hepatocyte transplantation has been studied to treat patients with liver disorders which do not need total replacement of the liver. We found that intrasplenically transplanted hepatocytes recomposed liver tissues in the spleens of rats and that they revealed similar structure and function of the liver. We also successfully transplanted hepatocytes into the spleens of rats which were isolated from cirrhotic livers or were thawed after long term cryopreservation. We developed the method to isolate human hepatocytes from resected liver tissues and made clinical trials of intrasplenic hepatocyte transplantation for the patients with chronic liver disorders. We detected the survival of transplanted hepatocytes in the spleens of patients, however, further proliferation of them has not yet identified. Hepatocyte transplantation still has many unresolved problems before its clinical application, such as a method to stimulate the proliferation of transplanted hepatocytes enough to make functional support of the damaged livers. In this article, I will review the present status and future aspects of hepatocyte transplantation.
Kasai
S
S
Second Department of Surgery, Asahikawa Medical College, Japan.
D000818:Animals; D002469:Cell Separation; D017690:Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology*; D008107:Liver Diseases / Q000628:therapy; D051381:Rats