NEW HYBRID ARTIFICIAL LIVER USING A COMBINATION OF HEPATOCYTES AND BIOMATRIX.

To supplement deficient functions of mechanical artificial livers, the combined use of biologic artificial livers utilizing viable hepatocytes becomes necessary. Survival efficiencies and retention of metabolic function of hepatocytes are especially important M. Rojkind et at. reported that liver extracellular matrix (biomatrix) is extremely useful as a culture substrate for long-term maintenance of functional cultured hepatocytes. In this paper, as one step toward their application to biologic artificial livers, isolated hepatocytes and biomatrix were simultaneously administered intraperitoneally to rats with d-galactosamine induced hepatic failure, and the effect on the survival rate was studied.