Role of Hepatic Efflux Transporters in Regulating Systemic and Hepatocyte Exposure to Xenobiotics: Supplemental Video 1

A supplemental video from the 2014 review by Nathan D. Pfeifer, Rhiannon N. Hardwick, and Kim L.R. Brouwer, "Role of Hepatic Efflux Transporters in Regulating Systemic and Hepatocyte Exposure to Xenobiotics," from the Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Bile canalicular contractions in sandwich-cultured rat hepatocytes. Sandwich-cultured hepatocytes are dynamic, functional cells that exhibit motility throughout the cytoplasm when viewed by confocal microscopy. Note that the black line is located in the center of the open bile canalicular lumen, and movements in the pericanalicular region (arrow) occur prior to and during contractions resulting in closure of open canaliculi. This behavior is consistent with previously published reports that isolated hepatocytes (couplets/hepatocyte groups) in the early stages of monolayer formation exhibited intact tight junctions with regular, ordered contraction and slow refilling of bile canaliculi (see Reference A, below); canalicular contractions were forceful and expelled luminal contents into the medium (see References A–C, below). This supplemental video was produced by Daniel Bow, PhD, with the assistance of the Fluorescence Microscopy and Imaging Center at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

References

A. Oshio C, Phillips MJ. 1981. Contractility of bile canaliculi: implications for liver function. Science 212:1041–42

B. Phillips MJ, Oshio C, Miyairi M, Katz H, Smith CR. 1982. A study of bile canalicular contractions in isolated hepatocytes. Hepatology 2:763–68

C. Boyer JL, Gautam A, Graf J. 1988. Mechanisms of bile secretion: insights from the isolated rat hepatocyte couplet. Semin. Liver Dis. 8:308–16