Abstract: Abstract: Objective To observe the influence of peripheral serum came from patients with hepatectomy at different time points on hepatocyte proliferation in vitro. Methods According to the different types of cultured serum, cultured HL- 7702 cells were divided into fetal bovine serum (FBS) group, preoperative serum group, 0.5 h, 3 h, 24 h and 72 h post operative serum groups. All groups of cells were cultured for 72 hours in the Cell-IQ unmarked living cell image analysis system, and the amplification curves of each group were mapped by continuous counting of cells. The cell amplification multiple was compared between all groups after culturing for 72 hours. BrdU immunofluorescence staining was performed and BrdU positive rate was calculated for comparing the cell proliferation of all groups. Results Amplification curves showed that HL-7702 cell proliferation rates of all human serum groups except for 72 h post operative group were higher than those of FBS group. Human serum 0.5 h and 3 h postoperative groups were more obvious. The amplification multiples of human serum groups, except for 72 h post operative group were all significantly higher than those of FBS group (P < 0.01), and 0.5 h and 3 h post operative groups were both significantly higher than those of preoperative group (P < 0.05). BrdU positive rates of all human serum groups were significantly higher than those of FBS group (P < 0.01), which were significantly higher in 0.5 h and 3 h post operative groups than those of preoperative group (P < 0.05), but there were no statistical differences between 24 h and 72 h post operative groups and the preoperative group. Conclusion Human serum can promote the proliferation of hepatocytes compared with that of FBS. The influence of serum acquired post hepatectomy is closely associated with the post operative time.

Key words: hepatocytes, cell proliferation, hepatectomy, serum