New non-woven polyurethane-based biomaterials for the cultivation of hepatocytes: expression of differentiated functions.

A new non-woven polyetherurethane support suitable to host cultured hepatocytes has been developed. Prior to its use in bioreactors and artificial liver devices, the biocompatibility of this new material was investigated. The experiments have shown that the survival and functionality of hepatocytes entrapped in the non-woven polymer were longer than that of monolayer cultured hepatocytes, under serum-free culture conditions. Hepatic specific metabolic functions, namely, synthesis of urea and synthesis and secretion of plasma proteins, were well maintained by hepatocytes entrapped in non-woven polyetherurethane sheets. Cells also retained the expression of biotransformation activities of 7-ethoxycoumarin-O-deethylase as well as CYP2A1, CYP2B1 and CYP3A1. The results presented in this paper point to non-woven polyetherurethane sheets as a suitable biocompatible support for functional, three-dimensional hepatocyte cultures.