RAT KUPFFER CELLS CULTURES AND THEIR APPLICATIONS TO EXPERIMENTAL HEPATOLOGY

Non-parenchymal cells were obtained by perfusion of rat liver with 0.05% collagenase followed by incubation at 37 degrees C of liver fragments in collagenase in a rotating water-bath. Kupffer cells were separated from endothelial cells by centrifugal elutriation and could be kept alive for several days. They had the same morphology as in vivo and retained the same properties of phagocytosis and pinocytosis. Rat Kupffer cells cultures could be used to investigate a number of unsolved problems of hepatic pathophysiology.