%0 Journal Article
%T Microbiological safety of a novel bio-artificial liver support system based on porcine hepatocytes: a experimental study
%A Bing Han
%A Xiao-lei Shi
%A Yue Zhang
%A Xue-hui Chu
%A Jin-yang Gu
%A Jiang-qiang Xiao
%A Hao-zhen Ren
%A Jia-jun Tan
%A Zhong-ze Gu
%A Yi-tao Ding
%J European Journal of Medical Research
%D 2012
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/2047-783x-17-13
%X Five normal beagles were treated with the novel BAL for 6 hours. The study was conducted for 6£¿months, during which plasma was collected from the BAL and whole blood from the beagles at regular intervals. DNA and RNA in both the collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma samples were extracted for conventional PCR and reverse transcriptase (RT)-PCR with PERV-specific primers and the porcine-specific primer Sus scrofa cytochrome B. Meanwhile, the RT activity and the in vitro infectivity of the plasma were measured.Positive PERV RNA and RT activity were detected only in the plasma samples taken from the third circuit of the BAL system. All other samples including PBMCs and other plasma samples were negative for PERV RNA, PERV DNA, and RT activity. In the in vitro infection experiment, no infection was found in HEK293 cells treated with plasma.No infective PERV was detected in the experimental animals, thus the novel BAL had a reliable microbiological safety profile.Acute liver failure (ALF) is a serious clinical disease with high mortality rate. Although liver transplantation is currently recognized as the most effective treatment for ALF, its application has been seriously limited by the lack of donor organs, the high cost of treatment, and the requirement for life-long immunosuppressive therapy [1,2]. Therefore, bio-artificial liver (BAL) support systems, based on functional hepatocytes, have received extensive attention because of their unique biological function, and considerable progress has been made in their development [3-5]. Currently, porcine hepatocytes are still the main cell sources for such systems because of their adequate resources, accessibility, and features similar to human hepatocytes [6-8]. However, because they are xenogeneic cells, porcine hepatocytes are associated with a number of problems, including that of microbiological safety. Porcine endogenous retrovirus (PERV) was first discovered in 1971 in porcine kidney (PK15) c
%K Microbiological safety
%K Porcine endogenous retrovirus
%K Bio-artificial liver
%K Porcine hepatocyte
%K Mesenchymal stem cells
%U http://www.eurjmedres.com/content/17/1/13