High Content Screening of Corning® HepatoCells for Hepatotoxicity

Revealing compounds that have a negative impact on the liver early in a drug development campaign is important in drug discovery. Drug induced liver injury is one of the most cited causes of drug candidate failure, and is often the reason for withdrawal of approved drugs from the market1. Therefore, having the correct model system and assay for screening is extremely important for detecting possible hepatotoxins. Corning HepatoCells are an immortalized alternative to primary human hepatocytes, that still retain the metabolic and enzymatic functionality of primary human hepatocytes, but without the lot-to-lot variability and reliance on human donors. Here we demonstrate how Corning HepatoCells can be a utilized to discover hepatotoxins by way of multiparameter high content screening analyses. Specifically, lipid accumulation and mitochondrial membrane potential loss were examined after exposure to a variety of known hepatotoxic compounds. High content analysis of hepatotoxicity using Corning HepatoCells plated in Corning BioCoat? Collagen I High Content Imaging Microplates, was compared to that of alternative immortalized hepatocyte cells. These results indicate that Corning HepatoCells, together with Corning High Content Imaging Microplates, are powerful tools for reliable and reproducible in vitro hepatotoxicity screening to predict liver injury