Hepatitis B virus infection and replication in primarily cultured human fetal hepatocytes.

Aim: To investigate the infection and replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in primarily cultured human fetal hepatocytes (HFHs).

Methods: The human fetal hepatocytes were cultured in serum-free medium, HBV-positive serum was added into the medium to study the susceptibility of hepatocytes to HBV infection. The supernatant was collected for ELISA assay of HBsAg and HBeAg, and quantitative fluorescence PCR for HBV-DNA assay daily.