Abstract
The liver is an organ with complex functions such as metabolism and synthesis of essential substances and detoxification of unnecessary or toxic substances. Sever liver dysfunctions somemtimes become irreversible and its prognosis is then poor. Two major therapies for the hepatic failure are there such as artificial liver support (ALS) and liver transplantation. The big limit of transplantation is the shortage of donor and waiting death is reported over 20%. Thus, an artificial liver is expected to treat the patients. For clinical application of ALS using isolated hepatocytes, large amounts of viable hepatocytes have to be always obtainable for urgent clinical needs. For this purpose, we have been trying to develop methods for the large-scale preparation of hepatocytes from large animal liver and for the mass cryopreservation of isolated hepatocytes. In this article, the present status of hepatocyte preparation and preservation will be reviewed and its future aspects will be discussed.
