Function of the liver cells in the short-term and the long-term cultures. I. Albumim production of the liver cells in vitro

In the experiments with cultured liver cells it is very important to know whether or not the cells in vitro have the same properties and functions as in vivo. The purposes of this work were to investigate the functions of the cultured liver cells and to identify functionally the liver cells cultured by our present method with the parenchymal liver cells. At first, the albumin production of the cultured liver cells, one of the well known functions of the liver cells, was examined by the immunological methods, especially, the fluorescent antibody technique and the complement fixation test. Culture methods which could display the functions of the liver cells as much as possible were explored simultaneously. The results were as follows: 1. Albumin production was detected in the strain RLN·10 liver cells established from the liver tissues of a Donryu rat with immunofluorescent method and complement fixation test. This confirms that the cultured liver cells maintain the function to produce albumin and these cells have originated from the parenchymal liver cells. 2. Hepatoma strains (AH 66-TC-l, AH 7974-TC-l) also showed the albumin production but the extent of its production was less than that of the strain RLN-10. 3. In the short-term cultured liver cells, the albumin production was testified only slight in one month and was exhibited in a small amount in three months. 4. Every culture method examined exhibited no appreciable difference in the albumin production in the cultured liver cells.