Liver Cells
Cells of the liver include, hepatocytes or parenchymal cells, stellate fat storing cells, Kupffer cells or liver macrophages, liver endothelial cells and the rare liver stem cells.
Unless the liver is physically reduced in size and the cells of the liver are induced to regenerate, most liver cells do not proliferate.
Stellate cells can be induced into proliferation with growth factors such as platelet-derived growth factors (PDGF). This proliferation can be detected using the assays listed below.
The production of Kupffer cells or liver macrophages from macrophage precursor cells, can be studied using either ColonyGro™ or CAMEO™-4 for the Pr-M precursor cells or using STEMClone™.
The types of liver cells usually investigated are the hepatocytes. These cells have a high metabolic activity and are therefore well suited to studying hepatotoxicity, since compounds that affect liver metabolism, can be detected using the metabolic assays developed by Preferred Cell Systems™. These hepatotoxicity assays can be found on a separate page of this website.
However, for basic research of hepatocytes, liver endothelial cells and liver stem cells where the investigator has the flexibility to use their own growth and maintenance medium and culture protocols, Preferred Cell Systems™ provides 3 types of 96-well plate assays, depending on the type of plate reader available. These are:
- HepatoGLO™ using a bioluminescence metabolic readout.
- HepatoFLUOR™ using a fluorescence metabolic readout.
- HepatoLIGHT™ using an absorbance/colorimetric metabolic readout.