Simultaneous isolation of primary human hepatocytes and non-parenchymal liver cells for the establishment of functional co-culture and tissue engineering liver models

Primary human hepatocytes (PHH) are parenchymal liver cells and represent ˜60 to 70% of total liver cells. Additionally non-parenchymal cells (NPC) like Kupffer cells (KC), Stellate cells (SC), cholangiocytes (CC) and sinusoidal endothelial cells (SEC) are present in the liver. NPC play a central role in many pathophysiologies of the liver, such as drug induced liver diseases, inflammation, liver fibrosis and cirrhosis as well as in regenerative processes. Many in vitro liver models are based on a monoculture of PHH and thus, the influence of NPC is missing. In recent years, NPC have become more relevant for the…