“…Primary cultured hepatocytes maintain most of their original differentiated in vivo characteristics, and therefore facilitate the extrapolation of the results in vivo. Fish hepatocytes have been extensively used for ecotoxicological exposure assessment studies (Pesonen and Andersson, 1997;Segner, 1998;Sturm et al, 2001;Navas and Segner, 2000;Smeets et al, 2002;Kuiper et al, 2004; for a review, see Schirmer, 2006). Fish gills are continuously exposed to waterborne toxicants, comprise the first barrier against toxicants that are entering the fish body, and hence are a major organ for the uptake and depuration of many toxicants (Wood, 2001), including organic chemicals (McKim et al, 1985;Randall et al, 1998).…”