Immortal hepatocyte cell lines are widely used to elucidate insulin-dependent signalling pathways and regulation of hepatic metabolism, although the often tumorigenic origin might not represent the me Show more
Immortal hepatocyte cell lines are widely used to elucidate insulin-dependent signalling pathways and regulation of hepatic metabolism, although the often tumorigenic origin might not represent the metabolic state of healthy hepatocytes. We aimed to investigate if murine cell line AML12 and human cell line THLE-2, which are derived from healthy liver cells, are comparable to hepatoma cell line HepG2 for studying acute insulin signalling and expression of gluconeogenic enzymes and hepatokines. Insulin responsiveness of AML12 and THLE-2 cells was impaired when cells were cultured in the recommended growth medium, but comparable with HepG2 cells by using insulin-deficient medium. THLE-2 cells showed low abundance of insulin receptor, while protein levels in HepG2 and AML12 were comparable. AML12 and THLE-2 cells showed only low or non-detectable transcript levels of Show less