Precision-cut liver slices as a model for the early onset of liver fibrosis to test antifibrotic drugs

Murine precision-cut liver slices (PCLS): a new tool for studying tumor microenvironments and cell signaling ex vivo

“…Although the PCLS method using rat livers has been applied to a number of research fields such as toxicology, virology and cancer research [4-10,19,20], murine PCLS has not been widely used. Since a large number of genetically manipulated mice are available, it would be useful to establish a PCLS system for this species.…”

“…Since the rat PCLS system has been well established [20,21], we first compared the life span of PCLS from mice and rats using two different media, namely WME [20,21], and high glucose Dulbecco’s modified eagle medium (DMEM) containing 2 mM sodium pyruvate, 100 nM glucagon, 30 nM insulin, 1 μM corticosterone, 1nM epidermal growth factor (EGF), antibiotics, fungizone, and 5% heat inactivated and dialyzed fetal calf serum (FCS) [22]. Both rat and mouse slices were prepared as described above and were incubated with these two different media.…”

“…In DMEM containing growth factors and hormones the number of nuclei in mouse PCLS was less reduced, while that in rat PCLS increased 72 h after cutting (Figure 2A), suggesting that DMEM containing growth factors and hormones induces hepatocyte proliferation. Then, ATP level [20,23] in rat or mouse liver slices (6 samples for each from 3 different animals) was measured 0 and 72 h after cutting. Each value was standardized according to the protein content of each preparation (Figure 2B).…”

Protective effects of Lycium barbarum polysaccharides against carbon tetrachloride-induced hepatotoxicity in precision-cut liver slices in vitro and in vivo in common carp (Cyprinus carpio L.)

“…Precision-cut liver slices (PCLSs) have become more and more accepted as a suitable in vitro tool to study xenobiotic-induced hepatotoxicity or drug protection mechanism due to the advantage that the normal tissue architecture and the cell heterogeneity are maintained (Parrish et al, 1995;Smith et al, 1986;Niu et al, 2014;Westra et al, 2014). It has been confirmed by microarrays that PCLSs more closely predicted in vivo toxicity than isolated hepatocytes or established cell lines (Elferink et al, 2008).…”

Hepatic Stellate Cell Culture Models

“…For example, precision-cut liver slices (PCLS) is an example of how a 3D in vitro model can be used to study the HSCs in a system that very closely reflects the in vivo situation with maintaining the intact hepatic architecture and cellular heterogeneity [72]. This 3D system can be obtained from rat [74], mouse [75], and human [76,77]. Liver slices or tissue cores are normally 8 mm in diameter, 250 μm thick, and contain 70-100 lobules.…”