Nonenzymatic versus enzymatic hepatocyte isolation from pig livers for larger scale investigations of liver cell perfusion systems.

A comparison of nonenzymatic and enzymatic hepatocyte isolation was performed on pig livers. The collagenase perfusion showed superior results: mean viability 72 +/- 10% versus a maximum viability of 21% using EDTA-perfusion. A five-step collagenase perfusion technique, developed for pig livers enables larger scale investigations, in order to develop methods for hepatocyte cultures in therapeutical liver cell perfusion systems.