HEPATOCYTE CELL-LINES ESTABLISHED FROM TRANSGENIC MICE HARBORING TEMPERATURE-SENSITIVE SIMIAN VIRUS-40 LARGE T-ANTIGEN GENE

To establish cell lines exhibiting differentiation phenotypes, the immortalized cell lines were rapidly established from the primary culture of different tissues of transgenic mice harboring SV40 temperature-sensitive large T-antigen gene. The established cell lines grew at permissive temperature (33 °C), but not at nonpermissive temperature (39 °C). Several different cell types could be rapidly immortalized and cloned from the adult transgenic mice tissues. Among those cell lines, the established hepatocyte cell lines (TLR cell lines) exhibited liver-specific morphological and biochemical properties, but their properties were not coupled with the growth condition modified by temperature. The hepatocyte cell lines showed an inducibility of P450IA1 by 3-metylcholanthrene as observed in rat livers and this liver-specific function was stable even after 6 months of culture by continuous passages. © 1991 Academic Press, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.