German Biotech Companies Report New Results on Cultivated Liver Cells

The German biotech company Bionas GmbH, Rostock, has made a first study investigating primary human hepatocytes with in vitro test in the Bionas® 2500 analyzing system. The human primary hepatocytes were provided by Primacyt GmbH, located in Schwerin, Germany. Primacyt has a unique know-how for serum free long-term human primary hepatocytes cultures.

The Bionas® 2500 detects oxygen consumption, acidification and adhesion of cells on six sensor chips in parallel. All parameters are detected continuously and online during long-term measurements. Regeneration and recovery effects are monitored respectively. Primary human hepatocytes were cultured on collagen pre-coated chips in chemically defined Human Hepatocyte Maintenance Medium and, for comparison, in conventional two-dimensional cultures. The sensor chip based in vitro results were compared with standard assays for hepatocytes like albumin release and urea release. The effects of acetaminophen (AAP) were investigated. The cells were exposed to AAP (50 – 2815 mg/l) for 24 h. Cell respiration was obviously inhibited by AAP concentrations above 500 mg/l whereas cell adhesion was marginally reduced. In conventional two dimensional cultures AAP application reduced albumin release. Comparison of primary human and rat cells shows obviously different hepatotoxic effects of AAP.

It seems that the primary human hepatocytes are less effected as the rat cells or the cell line HepG2. In conclusion the primary human cells are closer at the in-vivo situation as rat cells or artificial cell lines. Distinct differences can be also found if primary rat hepatocytes or the HepG2 cell line are used in the Bionas® 2500 analyzing system.

The Bionas® 2500 analyzing system clearly predicts compound effects on metabolism of primary cells. The combination of these primary human hepatocytes with the Bionas® 2500 analyzing system opened new ways in drug discovery and toxicology.

About Bionas:

Bionas was founded in 2001 as spin-off by members of the University of Rostock, Germany. In Rostock we are employing physicists, biochemists, chemists and hard- and software engineers. The Company has more then ten years of experience in the development of semiconductor sensor and its application on living cells. Main investors are Micronas Holding GmbH and GENIUS Venture Capital GmbH.

Bionas develops new tools for applications in the life sciences, drug discovery, cancer research and environment protection providing deeper insights into cell metabolism.

With this world's first ready-to-use sensor chip system, Bionas can reduce the need for animal testing and increase the safety of preclinical studies. So Bionas want to make a significant contribution to environmental protection and fight against cancer.

About PRIMACYT:

PRIMACYT Cell Culture Technology GmbH has its roots in HeparCell GmbH, originally founded by 4 private individuals in June 2004. In October 2005 HeparCell GmbH changed its corporate name to PRIMACYT Cell Culture Technology. With HEPAC2 the young biotech start up company has developed a long-term human hepatocyte culture system, that may be used as a biosensor for the analysis of drugs, food additives, and chemicals. HEPAC2 allows the repetitive application of drugs within one cell culture. Thereby, hepatocytes may not only be used for one experiment, but instead can be “recycled” and may be used after a recovery period for a second, a third or even a fourth round of experiments. Thus, the system is designed to reduce the number of animal experiments and to reduce the costs of preclinical studies.

Both companies are member of BioCon Valley, the life science initiative Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany – a partner of ScanBalt fmba, Copenhagen.

Contact:
Dr. Michael Schulze
Head of Sales & Marketing
Bionas GmbH
Friedrich-Barnewitz-Straße 3
18119 Rostock-Warnemünde
Germany
Tel.: +49 381 5196-241
Fax: +49 381 5196-246
mail: michael.schulze@bionas.de