The first auction of human cell strains in Japan was held Friday at a Tokyo hospital.

The cell strains -- previously owned by Hideo Okumura, 68, head of the Japan Human Cell Society -- had been seized as collateral for loans totaling 120 million yen.

They were purchased for 160 million yen by the creditor, a Tokyo businessman, who will be reimbursed the 120 million yen he initially lent to the researcher from the court. The businessman made the bid in order to prevent the cells from getting into the hands of a third party and will now consider future business propositions, his agent said.

The strains, obtained 20 to 30 years ago from dozens of donors, were seized by court officials from the society's headquarters in Tokyo's Shinagawa Ward in July.

The creditor had filed a petition for the seizure the month before, according to a court notice.

Okumura said in a news conference Thursday that he had taken the strains from the former National Institute of Health, renamed the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, when he retired in 1994 to use in his own research.

According to Okumura, the businessman approached him with a business proposal to mass-produce human cell strains. He was loaned 120 million yen in 1996 and the cell strains were put up for collateral.

Okumura, who said he believed the money was a grant to research the effects of poisons, was later unable to repay the businessman. He added that he had objected to the court ruling in July that the cell strains were collateral, as well as to their seizure the same month.

No legal provisions exist to ban the purchase or sale of cell strains, and strains are traded among research institutions for about 17,000 yen to 29,000 yen per ampul.

The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry set guidelines this spring requiring researchers to obtain the consent of those whose genes are used in studies, but did not set legal provisions banning trade in cell strains for research purposes.

Meanwhile, the NIID on Friday began investigating the circumstances in which Okumura took the human cell strains from the institute. It has started questioning its officials and intends to interview Okumura.

Under NIID guidelines, researchers are required to file applications for research using human cell strains.

The applications are evaluated based on the institute's code of ethics, but no regulations exist once the studies end and the cell strains are usually given to other researchers or discarded.

There are also no NIID regulations preventing researchers from removing the strains.