(Solved): Problem 6 In the body, liver cells (hepatocytes) are able to regenerate many times (each cell can ...

Problem 6 In the body, liver cells (hepatocytes) are able to regenerate many times (each cell can undergo 34 cell divisions). However, researchers have not yet found a way to culture hepatocytes so that they proliferate in vitro. Suppose that someone were to discover a growth medium that would allow hepatocytes to proliferate in culture. (A) How long would it take to generate $$10\%$$ of a human liver mass (a therapeutically sufficient amount) starting with cells taken from a liver biopsy? A typical liver biopsy involves a portion of the tissue removed that fills $$5\mathrm{cm}$$ of a syringe of approximately $$1\mathrm{mm}$$ in diameter. Assume that hepatocytes are $$20?\mathrm{m}$$ in diameter and that $$70\%$$ of the biopsy cells survive. You may assume that a typical human liver has approximately 250 billion cells and that the doubling time of hepatocytes is 12 hours. (B) What is the minimum number of hepatocytes that you would need to be able to generate a cell mass the size of a whole human liver, assuming that $$70\%$$ of your biopsy cells survive? How long would it take to produce the needed number of cells, starting with your calculated minimum starting population?