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Isolation and Culture of Adult Mouse Hepatocytes

2010; Springer Science+Business Media; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-1-59745-019-5_13

1940-6029

Wan‐Chun Li, Kate L. Ralphs, David Tosh,

Liver Disease Diagnosis and Treatment

The liver performs a multitude of functions including the regulation of carbohydrate, fat, and protein metabolism, the detoxification of endo- and xenobiotics, and the synthesis and secretion of plasma proteins and bile. Isolated hepatocytes constitute a useful technique for studying liver function in an in vitro setting. Here we describe a method for the isolation of hepatocytes from adult mouse liver. The principle of the method is the two-step collagenase perfusion technique which involves sequential perfusion of the liver with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid and collagenase. Following isolation, the cells can either be used for short-term studies or, alternatively, maintained in culture for prolonged periods to study long-term changes in gene expression. The protocol for mouse hepatocyte isolation may be applied to both normal and transgenic mice.