The liver fulfills many vital processes in mammals. It is the central organ of energy metabolism, biotransformation of xenobiotics, and synthesis of plasma proteins under physiological and pathophysiological conditions. Primary human hepatocyte culture is an important experimental model for the study of liver specific function. Propagation of human hepatocytes is critical for gene therapy, cell transplantation and clinical liver support systems. In appropriate culture condition, cultured human hepatocytes proliferate and maintain differentiated hepatocyte function such as the synthesis of serum proteins.
HH are isolated from human liver. HH are cryopreserved immediately after purification and delivered frozen. Each vial contains >1 x 10^6 cells in 1 ml volume. HH are characterized by immunofluorescent method with antibodies to albumin, cytokeratin-18 and vimentin. HH are negative for HIV-1, HBV, HCV, mycoplasma, bacteria, yeast and fungi. HH is not recommend for expanding or long term cultures since the cells do not proliferate in culture.