Two conventional systems — freshly-isolated hepatocytes and hepatocytes in culture — are now widely used for toxicity testing, each possessing advantages and disadvantages. More-recently. developed alternative strategies, which try to minimise the disadvantages apparent in the conventional systems, are described. Results obtained from these alternative strategies are presented, and the importance of culture as a determinant of toxic response is emphasised. Evidence is presented that reduction of the tetrazolium dye, MTT, is a measure of nucleotide redox balance in hepatocytes, rather than of mitochondrial performance as previously believed.
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