title: Hepatobiliary function and toxicity in vitro using isolated hepatocyte couplets.
abstract: 1. Hepatocyte couplets can be routinely prepared from rat liver to produce a suitable in vitro model for polarized primary cells. 2. Centrifugal elutriation provides a means of producing enriched subpopulations of periportal and perivenous couplets from the same liver, thus providing a means of studying the influence of zonal heterogeneity on hepatobiliary function. 3. The maintenance of structural and secretory polarity demonstrated by hepatocyte couplets provides a convenient in vitro system for mechanistic studies of factors both regulatory and adversely affecting hepatobiliary functions. 4. Couplets are also uniquely appropriate for specific studies of regulation at the biliary pole, on the performance of junctions and on the maintenance and rate of transcytotic movement. 5. The possibility also exists that effects of an in vivo pre-exposure to agents causing hepatobiliary dysfunction can be assessed in couplets ex vivo.
authors.affiliation: School of Biochemistry, University of Birmingham, UK.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Coleman
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Wilton
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Chipman
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001647:Bile Acids and Salts / Q000378:metabolism; D001648:Bile Canaliculi / Q000378:metabolism; D002450:Cell Communication; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002779:Cholestasis / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000503:physiopathology; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000009:adverse effects; D006490:Hemostatics / Q000009:adverse effects; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051381:Rats; D019108:Tight Junctions / Q000378:metabolism; D014617:Vacuoles / Q000378:metabolism; D014812:Vitamin K / Q000009:adverse effects
chemical_list: D001647:Bile Acids and Salts; D006490:Hemostatics; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D014812:Vitamin K; D016572:Cyclosporine