Isolated human hepatocytes have become one of the most attractive experimental approaches to the study of the specific metabolic functions of the human liver, interactions between liver cells and infectious agents, and metabolism and pharmacotoxicity of drugs. Particularly the primary cell culture model provides an in vitro system for investigating specific mechanisms in a precisely controlled conditions. In the present paper the legislative and ethical problems concerning availa- bility of human liver samples, techniques developed for isolation, preservation and cultivation of hepatocytes are discussed. In addition, a comparison of human and rat hepatocyte models in the study of the metabolism and cytotoxicity of taxol is reviewed.

        Key words: human hepatocyte – isolation – primary cultures – xenobiotics – metabolism