Cultivation of rat hepatocytes in a medium based on commercially available infusate solutions

The possibility of using commercially available infusate solutions as a culture medium for hepatocytes was investigated in primary monolayer cultures of rat hepatocytes. The addition of Ca 2+ to the infusate medium was necessary for hepatocytes to express their albumin secreting ability. The infusate medium supplemented with hormones (10 −7 M insulin and 10 −7 M dexamethasone) and Ca 2+ (72.5 mg/ l) allowed hepatocytes to produce albumin of an amount comparable to that produced in Williams' E medium. The activity of released lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) was kept at a low level throughout the cultivation in the infusate medium.