Isolation of a lipocyte-rich fraction from rat liver nonparenchymal cells

DA Otto, RL Veech - Alcohol and Aldehyde Metabolizing Systems-IV, 1980 - Springer
DA Otto, RL Veech
Alcohol and Aldehyde Metabolizing Systems-IV, 1980Springer
A modified pronase digestion procedure is described for isolating nonparenchymal liver
cells from vitamin A treated rats, which yielded a 15–23% population of lipocytes in the total
cell suspension. The criteria for defining a lipocyte was the appearance of vitamin A
containing cells as determined by fluorescent microscopy. Measurement of alcohol
dehydrogenase and retinol dehydrogenase activities indicated that these enzyme activities
were not present in the isolated nonparenchymal cells. A lipocyte-rich fraction of …
Summary
A modified pronase digestion procedure is described for isolating nonparenchymal liver cells from vitamin A treated rats, which yielded a 15–23% population of lipocytes in the total cell suspension. The criteria for defining a lipocyte was the appearance of vitamin A containing cells as determined by fluorescent microscopy. Measurement of alcohol dehydrogenase and retinol dehydrogenase activities indicated that these enzyme activities were not present in the isolated nonparenchymal cells. A lipocyte-rich fraction of nonparenchymal cells was obtained by centrifugation of purified nonparenchymal cells in a linear Metrizamide gradient. Vitamin A fluorescence and chemical assay of vitamin A in the cell fractions indicated a four-fold enrichment of lipocytes in the cell fraction with d = 1.043 g/ml. Fractions high in vitamin A also had numerous cells with fat droplets as shown by transmission electron microscopy.
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