Evaluation of the effect of culture configuration on morphology, survival time, antioxidant status and metabolic capacities of cultured rat hepatocytes

We evaluated the antioxidant status, namely cellular lipid peroxidation, by measuring thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), cellular reduced glutathione (GSH) content, glutathione reductase (GSSG-R), glutathione transferase (GST), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and catalase activities in rat liver, hepatocytes immediately after isolation and in two-dimensional (2D) culture (on non-coated or collagen-coated dishes, as collagen–collagen or collagen–Matrigel sandwich cultures) or three-dimensional (3D) culture on Matrigel-coated dishes. Microsomal cytochrome P450 (CYP)- and UDP-glucuronosyl transferase (UGT)- dependent activities were also assessed in rat livers and hepatocyte cultures. The overall antioxidant status of rat hepatocytes immediately after isolation was not significantly different from that of rat livers. During culture, GSH was increased in 2D but not in 3D cultures in accordance with morphological observations; that is that matrix–cell interactions involving GSH, important in 2D, are minimal in 3D cultures. While UGT- and GST-dependent activities were equivalent in cultured hepatocytes and in rat livers, both catalase and GSH-Px activities decreased with time in all culture configurations. Constitutive CYP-dependent activities were drastically decreased in hepatocytes after isolation and attachment and did not recover in any culture configuration tested. Our results highlight that, although 2D sandwich cultures and 3D cultures on Matrigel allow longevity of rat hepatocyte cultures and optimal induction of CYPs, an imbalance in phase I/phase II detoxication processes in cultured rat hepatocytes occurs, whatever the culture configuration.