Hepatocyte culture as an in vitro model for evaluating the hepatotoxicity of food-borne toxicants and microbial pathogens: a review.

Hepatocyte culture is a well-established, well-characterized, and widely used in vitro tool for pharamacological and toxicological studies. The hepatocytes of a wide range of species, including humans, can be maintained in culture with a high metabolizing capacity for several days under closely controlled and easily manipulated conditions. Numerous studies have reported good correlation between in vitro hepatocytes and in vivo siutations. They have been widely used for studies of the metabolism and of the toxicity and mechanisms of action of chemicals and drugs, for the screening of mutagens, carcinogens, and micotoxins, for virulence assessment of microbial pathogens and viruses, for qualitative and quantitative interspecies comparison, and for genomics and proteiomics studies. Hepatocytes, especially human hepatocytes, are used for preclinical drug evaluation and screening as well as for studies of drug metabolism, toxicity, interactions, and structure-activity relationships. They can be used for evaluating the hepatotoxicity of herbal products, dietary supplements, food additives, food-borne toxicants, and microbial pathogens. The results obtained from such in vitro screenings can be used for in vivo studies to asses the safety of test materials of interest. At the present time, there is insufficient evidence for their use in quantitative risk assessment. However, they are suitable for use in qualitative hazard assessment, which may be used for quantitative risk analysis.