Hepg2

Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2, Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen (DSMZ), Braunschweig, Germany, N°ACC 180) was cultured in 25 cm² flasks (for respiration assays) or 96-well plates (for determination of cellular ATP content and mitochondrial membrane potential) in RPMI 1640 culture medium containing 10% heat-inactivated fetal calf serum (FCS), 1 mM sodium pyruvate, 0.1 mM nonessential amino acids, 2 mM L-glutamine, 100 units/mL penicillin, and 100 mg/mL streptomycin at 37°C in a humid atmosphere (5% CO₂, 95% air). Cells were passaged upon reaching confluence.
The primary human hepatocytes were kindly provided by D. Stroka (University of Bern). Primary human hepatocytes were isolated from wedges of resected liver tissues taken from patients undergoing liver surgery. Written informed consent was obtained prior to surgery in compliance with the local ethical committee [27 (link)]. Cultures from 8 donors were prepared and cultured according to Rencurel et al. [28 (link)]. Additional primary human hepatocytes (5 donors) were purchased from ScienCell Research Laboratories (Carlsbad, CA, USA) and incubated with LPS and cell viability and respiration rates of intact cells were analyzed.

The human hepatoma cell line HepG2 was purchased from DSMZ (Braunschweig, Germany). HepG2 cells were grown in RPMI 1640. MCF-7^∆AHR cells were cultured in DMEM. Both cell lines were maintained in 5% CO₂ at 37 °C in culture medium containing 10% (v/v) FCS, 100 U/ml penicillin, 100 mg/ml streptomycin, and 2 mM L-glutamine. All media components were purchased from Pan-Biotech (Aidenbach, Germany). AHR-deficient variant of MCF-7 cells were kindly provided by Dr. P. Tarnow^{37 (link)}.