What are Stellates?
Hepatic stellate cells are non-parenchymal cells in the liver that store retinoids. These cells are in a quiescent state in a normal healthy liver.
Upon activation due to liver damage, these cells become fibroblast-like and produce extracellular collagen matrix.
Why Should You Care?
Hepatic stellate cells are involved in liver fibrosis in response to liver damage. These cells are critical for study of liver fibrosis and liver cirrhosis.
One issue with studying stellate cells is keeping them in their quiescent state. In order to maintain these cells you must typically culture them as adherent cells in 2D culture. Plating these cells onto a culture vessel though will typically yield fibroblast-like activated cells. This complicates the study of the activation process and pathways.
Researchers at the National Institute of Health Sciences were able to culture Lonza’s stellate cells on Preset VECELL® inserts to keep the cells in a more quiescent state. This technology uses collagen type I coated mesh in a scaffold. After culturing on these inserts, researchers noted a decrease in activation marker expression as well as a decrease in morphology associated with activation.
Better understanding of stellate activation could potentially lead to better treatment and prevention of liver damage. Animal testing can be used for the study of drug treatments for liver damage, but this research demonstrates this technology may be suitable for in-vitro study of liver fibrosis and cirrhosis.
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Written by Joseph
Scientific Support Specialist, Lonza Pharma-Bioscience Solutions at Lonza
