Further cellular investigation of the human hepatoblastoma-derived cell line HepG2: Morphology and immunocytochemical studies of hepatic-secreted proteins

Abstract

The hepatoblastoma cell line HepG2 has been a matter of many investigations; most of them include biochemical studies of lipoprotein and other hepatic protein metabolism. However, the accurate cellular features of these cells have not been emphasized. We studied the cellular histologic, histochemical, and ultrastructural characteristics of this cell line. In addition, we investigated by immunoenzymatic methods the cellular biosynthesis of several proteins: apolipoproteins-AI, -B, -D, and -E, albumin, alpha-fetoprotein, transferrin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, C-reactive protein, fibronectin, and collagens I, III and IV. The rates of accumulation, in the medium of HepG2 cells, of albumin, alpha-1-antitrypsin, transferrin, and alpha-fetoprotein were 13.2 +/- 1.9; 4.9 +/- 1.5; 3.2 +/- 0.4; and 10.7 +/- 1.7 micrograms/10(6) cells/24 h, respectively. Our results show that HepG2 cells exhibited most cellular features of normal human hepatocytes. Bile canaliculi as well as Golgi apparatus complexes were particularly developed. Except for the C-reactive protein, HepG2 cells have all retained the ability to synthesize hepatic proteins but with some variable intensity from cell to cell. This hepatoblastoma cell line seems to represent a useful tool in the understanding of hepatic protein biosynthesis, particularly for the investigation on the secretory pathway of plasma proteins.

Electric Stimulation at 448 kHz Promotes Proliferation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells

“…Indeed, our late passage cells showed a number of genetic abnormalities, including aneuploidy (data not shown) that are characteristic of senescent cultures. The possibility that CRET elicits antiproliferative effects in senescent ADSC could take partial support from previous studies by our group, which report that CRET treatment causes antiproliferative effects in hepatocarcinoma HepG2 and neuroblastoma NB69 [32,33,34,35,36], two human cancer cell lines known to carry a variety of genetic alterations [52,53]. …”

Pirital virus (Arenaviridae) infection in the syrian golden hamster, Mesocricetus auratus: a new animal model for arenaviral hemorrhagic fever.

“…24 Hepatoblastoma cells. The Hep G2/C3A clone of human hepatoblastoma cells 25 was obtained from American Type Culture Collection (Rockville, MD) (ATCC catalog #CRL-10791). The cells were grown at 37ЊC in minimum essential medium (Eagle) supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 0.29 mg/ml of L-glutamine, 100 U/ml of penicillin G, 100 g/ml of streptomycin sulfate, and 1.5 mg/ml of sodium bicarbonate.…”

Effect of sex steroids and insulin on dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate production by hepatoma G2 cells

“…Firstly, while HepG2 cells have been well characterized (37-40), they may not be representative of normal hepatic tissue (41)(42)(43)(44) or hepatic tissue in PCOS patients. It is also possible that alternative effects of the factors added to the media may have affected our results.…”