0000000000289432
AUTHOR
Renate Pack
Deficiency of bile acid transport and synthesis in oval cells from carcinogen-fed rats.
Freshly isolated oval cells, which we obtained from the livers of rats fed a choline-deficient/DL-ethioninesupplemented diet, did not transport bile acids. Compared with freshly isolated rat hepatocytes they took up only negligible amounts of [3H]taurocholate or [14C]cholate. The cells bound small amounts of radioactive bile acids. This portion of the total cell-associated radioactivity was enhanced on membrane permeabilization. In contrast to cultured liver parenchymal cells from untreated rats, no bile acid synthesis was detected in cultured oval cells. Cultured oval cells also lost the ability to conjugate exogenously added cholate (100 μmol/L) with taurine or glycine. However, when live…
Isolation, biochemical characterization, long-term culture, and phenotype modulation of oval cells from carcinogen-fed rats.
Oval cells are liver epithelial cells that proliferate during hepatocarcinogenesis and chemically induced severe liver injury. It has been suggested that these cells represent hepatic stem cells which might play an important role in the histogenesis of cholangiocellular as well as hepatocellular carcinomas. In order to test this hypothesis highly purified oval cell preparations and propagable oval cell lines are needed. In the present study the isolation, biochemical characterization, and long-term culture of oval cells from rats fed a choline-deficient/DL-ethionine-supplemented diet for 6, 14, or 22 weeks are described. The freshly isolated oval cells were gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase-posi…