Studies of vitamin A transport to cultured stellate cells (Fat-Storing Cells)

• Published in: Kanzo Vol. 27; no. 4; pp. 480 - 486
• Main Authors: MATSUURA, Tomokazu, NAGAMORI, Seishi, FUJISE, Kiyotaka, HASUMURA, Satoshi, HOMMA, Sadamu, SUJINO, Hajime, SHIMIZU, Keiichiro, KAMEDA, Haruo, HIROSAWA, Kazushige
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: The Japan Society of Hepatology 1986
• Subjects: fat-storing cells (FSC, stellate cells)
• ISSN: 0451-4203; 1881-3593
• DOI: 10.2957/kanzo.27.480

We studied morphology and function on cultured rat Fat-Storing Cells (FSC). In order to obtain isolated viable hepatic cells, rat liver was perfused non-recirculatively with collagenase solution. Parenchymal and non-parenchymal cells were separated by a low speed centrifugation technique. Non-parenchymal cells were fractionated to three bands by colloidal silica-gel "Percoll" density gradient. FSC concentrated in the most low density band. These isolated FSC were cultured in Williams' E medium with 10% fetal calf serum. After 3 days in culture, cultured rat FSC contained abundant lipid droplets in the cytoplasm and showed characteristically long and thin extension. Cultured FSC showed bright fluorescence of Vitamin A (VA) in the lipid droplets when irradiated with light of 325-345nm. These cultured FSC were labelled with 3H-VA and then prepared for autoradiography. FSC were labelled with silver grains markedly. Particularly, silver grains were localized in droplets on FSC. We observed direct VA uptake of cultured rat FSC.