| Abstract: | Feasibility of using a macroporous membrane material, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE), for culturing hepatocytes
on its surface was examined. Adult rat hepatocytes were attached to an ePTFE surface and cultured in a hormonally defined
medium supplemented with or without fetal calf serum (FCS, 10%) or bovine serum albumin (BSA, 0.03–3%). When cultured in a
FCS-suplemented medium, hepatocytes reorganized themselves into multilayer cell aggregates on an ePTFE surface. The morphological
characteristics of hepatocytes were influenced by the modification of the ePTFE surface as well as the culture medium. Hepatocytes
cultured on a polyvinylalcohol (PVA)-coated ePTFE surface formed many more multilayer cell aggregates than those cultured
on an uncoated ePTFE surface. Such highly multilayered hepatocyte aggregates were also noted when the cells were cultivated
in a BSA-supplemented medium. On the other hand, when cultured in a FCS- or BSA-free medium, hepatocytes formed cell monolayers
on both PVA-coated and uncoated ePTFE surfaces as did the cells on a collagen-coated polystyrene surface. The hepatocytes
in the aggregates exhibited high albumin expression capability and low DNA synthesis rate as compared with those in monolayer
cultures. The multilayer hepatocyte aggregates, as immobilized on a PVA-coated ePTFE surface in a serum-supplemented medium,
are shown to be not only morphologically, but functionally differentiated, and will provide us a model system for the development
of a bioreactor using hepatocytes, particularly for a hybrid-type artificial liver.
This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
