164 INTRAPERITONEAL TRANSPLANTATION OF HEPATOCYTES EMBEDDED IN THERMOREVERSIBLE GELATION POLYMER (MEBIOL GEL) IN ACUTE LIVER FAILURE RAT MODEL

F Hepatic Failure is defined as the development of hepatic encephalopathy and profound coagulopathy within 8 weeks of the onset of symptoms in patients without a preexisting liver disease. The various causes of this devastation include drug-induced liver injury from other medications, hepatitis A, B and E, ingestion of various hepatotoxins and metabolic disorders. There is rapid development of cerebral edema and multiorgan failure within days to weeks of clinical presentation. Liver transplantation is the only viable therapeutic option for the treatment of acute liver failure. In the last two decades, research has focused on the development of alternative or supportive measures to deal with acute liver failure; one of the most studied is hepatocyte transplantation (HTx). The potential advantages of cell transplantation include a simpler, safer, less costly procedure. Liver cells can be infused into ectopic sites (other than liver) such as peritoneum, portal vein or spleen. HTx has shown promising results to support acute liver failure condition in animal models (1-7) as well as humans (8). Various substrates and scaffolds have been used to increase the survival of the transplanted cells. The use of micro-carriers has been well demonstrated in