title: Evaluation of primary human liver cells in bioreactor cultures for extracorporeal liver support on the basis of urea production.
abstract: Primary human liver cells from donor organs unsuitable for transplantation were cultivated in bioreactors developed for extracorporeal liver support. Because each system contains cells originating from an individual organ, each bioreactor culture must be individually characterized. The objective of this study was to identify suitable decisive parameters for the evaluation of cell culture performance. We analyzed the data from 47 bioreactor cultures containing 437 +/- 110 g of cells. Choosing urea production as the decisive parameter, the bioreactor cultures were divided into high-performance (daily urea production > or = 110 mg per bioreactor between culture days 3 and 14) and low-performance cultures. Comparing the mean courses of the groups revealed a significant distinction in most other investigated biochemical parameters. In conclusion, urea production seems to be an appropriate parameter for evaluating the performance of liver cell cultures in bioreactors because it corresponds to all other evaluated parameters of cell function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. gesine.pless@charite.de
authors.forename: Gesine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pless
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Steffen
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zeilinger
authors.forename: Igor M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Sauer
authors.forename: Ekaterina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Katenz
authors.forename: Daniel C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Kehr
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: Tim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mieder
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Schwartlander
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Brigitte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wegner
authors.forename: Mariah S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Hout
authors.forename: Jörg C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Gerlach
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000418:Albumins / Q000378:metabolism; D019149:Bioreactors; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009926:Organ Preservation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014508:Urea / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000418:Albumins; D019344:Lactic Acid; D014508:Urea