[Subsurface cisterns of adult rat hepatocytes in primary monolayer cultures (author's transl)].

Primary cultures of adult rat hepatocytes are a good model for the study of SSC, because they appear in a great number of cells when these form trabecular structures in the culture. The SSC seem to be multifunctional features. They have not only one and the same function in the variety of cells in which they exist. Their localization in the hepatocytes point to an implication in cell adhesion mechanisms. The images also suggest a possible participation in cell membrane repair phenomena. The SSC are a differentiate portion of endoplasmic reticulum for the repairment of cell membrane portions damaged in the isolation of hepatocytes.