The human liver filters about three pints of blood every minute. We know that blood carries the body’s arsenal, immune cells (white blood cells), that help us fight disease. However, we don’t know much about what happens at a molecular level when immune cells leave the blood and trickle through the liver’s narrow corridors.
The internal structure and specialist regions of liver tissue from an adult mouse. The sinusoids (vascular channels lined with endothelial cells) can be seen as pink structures running through the tissue. These contain red blood cells (erythrocyte) and Kupffer cells (specialist macrophages of the liver). Hepatocytes, shown in brown, are arranged in plates surrounding the sinusoids. Bile is secreted into the canaliculi, shown as green channels. These are dilated intercellular spaces between adjacent hepatocytes and bile flows through them en route to the small intestine. Scanning electron micrograph by Jackie Lewin.
Which immune cells leave the blood and spend time amongst liver cells?
How long do they spend there and what happens to them next?
How does their passage through the liver microenvironment affect their biology?
To address these questions, we use simple and sophisticated systems, ranging from static co-cultures of blood cells with liver cells to mini liver organ cultures developed in our lab.
Stamataki Lab 