FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT OF HEPATOCYTES AFTER TRANSPLANTATION INTO RAT SPLEEN

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Abstract
The retention of structural integrity and metabolic function by isolated hepatocytes after ectopic transplantation was investigated in autografted rats. Rats were partially hepatectomized and isolated hepatocytes prepared from excised liver lobes were implanted into their spleens. Histological examination of the spleens 7 or more wk after implanation revealed aggregates of hepatocytes in the red pulp. Two tests of biochemical function were applied to the hepatocytes after transplanation. In the 1st, the hepatobiliary imaging agent 99mTc-N-[N''-(2,6-dimethylphenyl)carbamoylmethyl]iminodiacetic acid (99mTc HIDA), which was avidly taken up by isolated hepatocytes in vitro, was infused into the tail veins of autograft and control rats. Radioactivity accumulating in the spleens of autografted rats was markedly greater than that in controls implanted with lethally damaged cells or in nontransplanted rats. In the 2nd, the presence of bilirubin metabolites was sought in autograft spleens after i.v. infusion of bilirubin. Both mono- and diglucuronides of bilirubin were recovered from the spleens of autograft, but no conjugates were recovered from the spleens of unoperated controls. After autotransplantation, isolated hepatocytes apparently retain their morphology and at least some of their functional activities.