Peritoneal transplantation of human fetal hepatocytes for the treatment of acute fatty liver of pregnancy: a case report.

We report the case of a 26-year-old second gravida in the third trimester of pregnancy who presented with a history of nausea, repeated vomiting and jaundice. The patient was diagnosed as acute fatty liver of pregnancy. After delivery, the condition of the patient progressed to grade IV encephalopathy and did not improve despite all intensive clinical management measures. After 3 days in grade IV encephalopathy, the patient was infused 3 x 10(8) human foetal hepatocytes. The patient's level of consciousness started improving after 24 hours of foetal hepatocyte transfusion and she recovered completely within 7 days.

In vitro studies on a bioreactor module containing encapsulated goat hepatocytes for the development of bioartificial liver.

BACKGROUND: A bioartificial liver may act as a temporary metabolic bridge in patients with acute liver failure. We devised a bioreactor module containing encapsulated goat hepatocytes and studied its efficiency in detoxifying ammonia. METHODS: A hollow-glass bioreactor module was designed and fabricated locally. The module was inoculated with alginate poly-L-lysine microcapsules with entrapped goat hepatocytes. Metabolism of ammonia and glucose was assessed. Antibody-mediated cell cytotoxicity was also assessed. RESULTS: The optimum encapsulated goat hepatocyte concentration was 12-18 billion at a perfusate flow rate of 30 mL/min under oxygenated condition. The optimum ammonium chloride concentration for detoxification was 2.5-5.0 mM. There was little or no cytolysis of encapsulated hepatocytes on exposure to complement-inactivated human AB serum. CONCLUSION: Encapsulated goat hepatocytes efficiently detoxified ammonia to urea. Cells were metabolically active up to 48 hours, indicating their feasibility for use in a bioreactor module. Encapsulation protected the hepatocytes from antibody-mediated cell lysis.