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Cryopreservation of Suckling Pig Hepatocytes

Address correspondance to Zhong Chen, Ph.D., Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School, Nanjing University, 321 Zhongshan Road, 210008 Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; tel 86 25 330 4616; fax 86 513 351 8820; e-mail cflab{at}jlonline.com.

To determine the best and simplest method for cryopreservation of pig hepatocytes, we compared immediate cryopreservation with cryopreservation after short-term culture. Suckling pig hepatocytes were isolated by a modified 2-step in situ collagenase perfusion method, suspended in serum-free medium, and preserved for 10 da by two cryopreservation methods. Serial measurements were made of cell viability, LDH release, synthesis of protein, urea and glucose, glucose-6-phosphatase (G-6-Pase) activity, and diazepam transformation after thawing. These measurements were performed on both groups of cultured hepatocytes, and on freshly isolated hepatocytes, which served as a control. High viability (>95%)of thawed hepatocytes was obtained and maintained in both cryopreservation groups. There were no significant differences in cell viability, protein synthesis, glucose synthesis, G-6-Pase activity, or diazepam transformation between the two cryopreservation groups. In the immediate cryopreservation group, urea synthesis was less than in the group with cryopreservation after short-term culture. Protein synthesis, glucose synthesis, and diazepam transformation were lower in both cryopreserved groups than in the controls. The results showed that a protocol of immediate cryopreservation of hepatocytes in RPMI-1640 medium containing 10% DMSO, hormones, growth factors, and 10% newborn bovine serum, together with rate-controlled freezing and rapid thawing, provides indices of cell viability and function during subsequent serum-free culture that are comparable to hepatocytes cryopreserved after short-term culture, except for lower urea production. This simple procedure can be used in studies of bioartificial liver and hepatocyte transplantation.

Keywords: hepatocyte culture, cryopreservation, bioartificial liver, liver transplantation

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