title: Maintenance of hepatocyte functions by coculture with bone marrow stromal cells.
abstract: Rat hepatocytes and bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) were cocultured with the aim of maintaining differentiated hepatocyte functions. After BMSCs were expanded to a confluent monolayer, freshly isolated hepatocytes were cultured with them, separated by a semipermeable membrane. The BMSCs significantly increased the urea synthesis and albumin secretion activities of the hepatocytes. Conditioned medium prepared from a BMSC monoculture had the same effect. Further study showed that interleukin-6 was involved in the maintenance of urea synthesis and another factor in the maintenance of albumin secretion.
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Osaka University, 1-6 Yamada-oka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Isoda
authors.forename: Midori
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kojima
authors.forename: Masashi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Takeda
authors.forename: Shinji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Higashiyama
authors.forename: Masaya
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawase
authors.forename: Kiyohito
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yagi