Human hepatocyte bioreactor

Figure 19.4 Protein secretion (shade bars) and urea synthesis (full bars) of human hepatocytes cultured in the galactosylated membrane bioreactor for 21 days. The values are the mean of six experiments standard deviation.

Ulvestad M, Darnell M, Molden E et al (2012) Evaluation of organic anion-transporting polypeptide 1B1 and CYP3A4 activities in primary human hepatocytes and HepaRG cells cultured in a dynamic three-dimensional bioreactor system. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 343(1 ) 145-156... 

L. De Bartolo, S. Salerno, E. Curcio, A. Pisdoneri, M. Rende, S. MorelU, F. TasselU, A. Bader, E. DrioU, Human hepatocyte functions in a crossed hollow fiber membrane bioreactor. Biomaterials 30 (13) (2009) 2531-2543. 

De Bartolo et al. reported the viability of human hepatocytes in a multibore hollow-fiber bioreactor and their liver specific functions, when human hepatocytes were cultured in the intraluminal compartment of the bioreactor. Human hepatocytes maintained their round shape on the membranes and showed focal adhesions as sites of interaction with the membrane surface they expressed fiver functions, including synthetic and detoxification activity. The results demonstrated that human hepatocytes cultured in the multibore fiber bioreactor are able to sustain the same in vivo fiver functions in vttro. ... 

F, Bader A, Drioli E (2009), Human hepatocyte functions in a crossed hollow fiber membrane bioreactor . Biomater.,30,2531-2543. 

Generally there are two approaches in the incorporation of cells in bioreactors for liver support. One is the use of cell lines [10]. The other is to isolate and use primary hepatocytes from animal livers [11] or human livers [12]. 

Bader et al. [35] and De Bartolo et al. [36] developed the flat membrane bioreactor which consists of a multitude of stackable flat membrane modules as shown in Fig. 5. Each module has an oxygenating surface area of 1150 cm. Up to 50 modules can presently be run in parallel mode. Isolated hepatocytes are co-cultured with non-parenchymal cells. Liver cells are located of a distance of 20 pm of extracellular matrix from a supported polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE) film. Medium and cells in the modules are oxygenated in the incubator by molecular diffusion of air across the non-porous PTFE membrane. The design of the bioreactor is also the basis for its proven potential for cryostorage with fully differentiated adult primary human liver cells. 

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