Comparison of the biological features between human fetal hepatocyte and immortalized L-02 hepatocyte in vitro / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the feasibilities of the potential donors in liver cell transplantation using the human fetal hepatocytes and immortalized L-02 hepatocytes by comparing their biological features. Methods Human fetal hepatocytes were isolated from aborted fetal livers (gestational ages from 14 w to 24 w) by an improved two-stage perfusion method and cultured in a conditioned medium without any growth factors.?-fetal protein (AFP) and albumin (ALB) were detected by radioimmunoassay (RIA) and cytokeratin-19 (CK-19) was identified by cellular immunochemistry study.Immortalized L-02 hepatocytes were cultured in the same condition and the characteristic proteins were detected by the same methods.Results The viability of human fetal hepatocytes was approximately 95% using the perfusion method, and the maximum survival time of the cultured hepatocytes was 3 weeks.The expression of AFP, ALB, and CK19 was detected at the same time, especially during Day 3 to Day 7 in the culture.By comparison, the proliferation ability of L-02 hepatocyte was greater, although with a lower level of ALB secretion.The expression of AFP and CK19 was not detected.Furthermore, during the long culture, L-02 hepatocytes may undergo a morphologic change and fail to express ALB.Conclusion Human fetal hepatocyte may be a practical donor for hepatocyte transplantation with its high-level protein expression and potential bi-differentiation ability.In view of the absent expression of ALB and the morphologic change in culture, although with better proliferation, L-02 hepatocyte seems not useful for hepatocyte transplantation.