Reconstruction of tissue and gene expression

Cell-cell communication between multiple cell populations is believed to be important for the activation of many cellular functions. It has previously been reported that rat hepatocytes in a double layer co-culture system with human endothelial cells were able to maintain albumin expression for a prolonged period of time. This result suggests that essential functions of hepatocytes were maintained via communication with endothelial cells in this co-culture system. In order to analyze the hepatocyte gene expression profile of double-layered co-culture, we try to isolate cDNAs, which increase in this co-culture system, from a subtractive library constructed by suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH). The results indicate that the many hepatocyte functions are increased by layered with HUVEC.