The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is an academic center affiliated with the Division of Toxicological Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Research Grants 1993-1994

Hepatocyte-Kupffer Cell Co-Cultures for Evaluation of Hepatotoxicity Due to Hepatotoxicant Interactions

I. Glenn Sipes, PhD
University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

The investigators has developed procedures to isolate hepatocytes and Kupffer cells (KC) from rat livers, to maintain them in culture, to monitor various drug biotransformation activities in hepatocytes, to assess chemical-induced injury to the hepatocyte and to monitor the release of cytotoxic factors from the KC. The co-culture of these cell types is being used to investigate how KC and hepatocytes interact to enhance killing of hepatocytes. In future studies, investigators hope to establish co-culture systems with human liver cells.