ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the changes in the microheterogeneity of Alpha1-Acid Glycoprotein (AGP) and alpha2-HS glycoprotein (AHSG) in an in vitro system of hepatocytes cocultured with rat liver epithelial cells and in a human hepatoma cell line, Hep-3B, maintained in a culture medium containing selenium as the only supplement. The increase of Concanavalin A (ConA)-reactive variants of rat AGP could be the result of a synergistic action of dexamethasone and one or several cytokines released at the time of preparation of the hepatocytes, since that increase was noted only in the first days of culture. Addition of conditioned medium to hepatocytes, after 24 h of culture, caused more than a twofold increase in AGP secretion, compared with the AGP secreted in control cultures on day 10. ConA-cossed-affinity immunoelectrophoresiswas also used to study the changes of several acute-phase glycoproteins, including AGP and AHSG, in pregnancy.