Preparation and biochemical characterisation of isolated parenchymal cells from adult sheep liver.

1. A simple procedure for the isolation of morphologically intact, metabolically viable sheep liver parenchymal cells is described in detail. 2. The method is based on the initial treatment of fresh liver slices with collagenase and hyaluronidase. 3. The cell preparation was studied with respect to membrane permeability, potassium content, ATP/ADP ratio, adenylate content, and gluconeogenic capacity with respect to various substrates. 4. Data are present with respect to the distribution of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase in isolated cells and whole sheep liver. 5. The results are compared, where possible, with data currently available from isolated perfused sheep liver and multi-catheterised animals.