title: Human hepatocyte isolation and relationship of cell viability to early graft function.
abstract: Hepatocyte transplantation is emerging as an additional modality of treatment for patients with acute liver failure or liver-based metabolic disorders. The procedure requires isolation of high-quality hepatocytes from unused donor livers. Hepatocytes were isolated from 20 donor livers (11 right lobes, 3 left lateral segments, 6 whole livers) using a collagenase perfusion technique. Cell viability (median 56%, range 13-95%) and yield (median 1.4 x 10(9) cells, range 2.0 x 10(6)-1.8 x 10(10) cells) varied according to the tissue available. Fatty livers rejected for transplantation gave lower cell viability (median 45%, range 25-59%). There was a significant correlation between age of donor (median 21 years, range 7-66 years) and viability of isolated hepatocytes in vitro (r = -0.683, p = 0.001). The 13 segments of livers were from reduced/split grafts used for clinical transplantation in 9 children and 4 adults. There was no significant correlation between in vitro cell viability and clinical parameters including intensive care stay, serum aspartate aminotransferase,and international normalized ratio (in the first 7 days), and allograft rejection or other early posttransplant complications, in patients transplanted with the corresponding tissue.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Liver Studies, Guy's, King's and St. Thomas' School of Medicine, and King's College Hospital, Denmark Hill, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ragai R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Mitry
authors.forename: Robin D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Marion M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Aw
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Terry
authors.forename: Giorgina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mieli-Vergani
authors.forename: Raffaele
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Girlanda
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Muiesan
authors.forename: Mohamed
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rela
authors.forename: Nigel D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Heaton
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dhawan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D002469:Cell Separation / Q000379:methods*; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006084:Graft Rejection / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000502:physiology*; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D017114:Liver Failure, Acute / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016378:Tissue Transplantation / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D001219:Aspartate Aminotransferases