Characteristics of human non-cirrhotic and cirrhotic liver sections in a novel ex vivo perfusion system

Introduction: Animal models or isolated liver cells serve to initially investigate safety of novel drugs and to examine liver diseases. Data gathered from these models may not always be directly transferred into the human system and are subject to certain limitations. Thus we present a perfusion system of human liver tissue, as a new model for translational research. Methods: Human liver tissue specimens from non-cirrhotic (NC, n=9) and cirrhotic (CL, n=8) origin were perfused continuously for six hours. Hourly taken samples from perfusate were analyzed for markers of general metabolism, hepatic synthesis capaci…