Dr. Alina Ostrowska and colleagues published a review article in Organogenesis, entitled, “Human Hepatocytes Isolated from Explanted Livers: A Powerful Tool to Understand End-stage Liver Disease and Drug Screening.” PLRC’s DANDI award recipient, Dr. Rodrigo Florentino, and lab members Nils Haep, Carla Frau, Takashi Motomura, Ricardo Diaz-Aragon, and Lanuza Faccioli also contributed to this paper.

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Dr. Alina Ostrowska
rodrigo_florentino

Abstract

The use of primary human hepatocytes has been hampered by limited availability of adequate numbers of fresh and viable cells due to the ongoing shortage of liver donors. Thus, there is no surplus of healthy organs from which freshly isolated cells can be prepared when needed. However, primary hepatocytes can be successfully isolated from explanted liver specimens obtained from patients receiving orthotopic liver transplantation for decompensated liver cirrhosis or for metabolic liver disease without end-stage liver disease and are a valuable resource for the pharmaceutical industry research. This review focuses on the isolation, characterization and cryopreservation of hepatocytes derived from therapeutically resected livers with various hepatic diseases.