Where do you get your human liver tissue?

Human liver tissue for research is procured from donated human liver. It is obtained through established clinical or tissue-procurement networks rather than collected directly by a research laboratory.

The tissue collection process, that is, consented donors, surgical resections, transplant-related sources, or accredited tissue banks depends on the research objective and research design. The exact source can vary based on factors such as donor eligibility, tissue quality, availability, and the requirements of the study.

It is crucial to maintain ethical regulations to procure human liver tissue. This involves gaining informed consent and clearance from the relevant ethical committee. Other information including donor age, sex, medical history, and tissue collection details are noted in detail by the researchers.

The type of liver material you need also makes a difference. For example, fresh or cryopreserved liver tissue may be used for histology, molecular studies, or primary hepatocyte isolation. Other researchers may need processed biological models such as human liver microsomes (HLM) or human liver S9 fractions, which are prepared from liver tissue and are commonly used in drug metabolism, ADME, and toxicology studies.

For isolation of the human liver tissue, the tissues are homogenized in an adequate buffer solution maintained at appropriate pH. The tissues are subjected to enzymatic digestion (collagenase or trypsin) to isolate single cells. The digested tissues are mixed with complete culture media and centrifuged to obtain the tissue pellet, which is further seeded in the cell culture flask or plates. The cells are incubated under adequate conditions with a temperature of 37 °C, 5% CO2, and relative humidity.