Evidence for a factor protective against hypoxic liver parenchymal cell injury in a protein-free blood extract.

The effect of a protein-free extract from calf blood on hypoxic cell injury was studied in experiments with primary cultures of isolated hepatocytes. At concentrations above 1 mg/ml the extract produced marked protection. At 4 h of anaerobic incubation at 37 degrees C only 20% of cells were damaged as compared to 50% of the anaerobic control incubation. These data demonstrate the presence of a factor in the blood extract which protects against hypoxic cell injury.