Purinergic receptors are among the first cell surface receptors expressed during embryonic development （Burnstock and Ulrich, 2011）. These are characterized based on their pharmacological properties of being activat...Purinergic receptors are among the first cell surface receptors expressed during embryonic development （Burnstock and Ulrich, 2011）. These are characterized based on their pharmacological properties of being activated by adenosine or purine/pyrimidine nucleotides as P1 and P2 receptors. P2 receptors are further classified by their structure as P2Y metabotropic and P2X ionotropic receptors.展开更多
BACKGROUND： Differentiation of liver progenitor cells（LPCs） to functional hepatocytes holds great potential to develop new strategies for hepatocyte transplantation and the screening of drug-induced cytotoxicity. H...BACKGROUND： Differentiation of liver progenitor cells（LPCs） to functional hepatocytes holds great potential to develop new strategies for hepatocyte transplantation and the screening of drug-induced cytotoxicity. However, reports on the efficient and convenient hepatic differentiation of LPCs to hepatocytes are few. The present study aims to investigate the possibility of generating functional hepatocytes from LPCs in an indirect co-culture system.METHODS： Mouse LPCs were co-cultured in Transwell plates with an immortalized human hepatic stellate cell line（HSCLi） we previously established. The morphology, expression of hepatic markers, and functions of mouse LPC-derived cells were monitored and compared with those of conventionally cultured LPCs. RESULTS： Co-culturing with HSC-Li cells induced differentiation of mouse LPCs into functional hepatocyte-like cells. The differentiated cells were morphologically transformed into hepatocyte-like cells 3 days after co-culture initiation. In addition, the differentiated cells expressed liver-specific genes and possessed hepatic functions, including glycogen storage, lowdensity lipoprotein uptake, albumin secretion, urea synthesis, and cytochrome P450 1A2 enzymatic activity.CONCLUSIONS： Our method, which employs indirect co-culture with HSC-Li cells, can efficiently induce the differentiation of LPCs into functional hepatocytes. This finding suggests that this co-culture system can be a useful method for the efficient generation of functional hepatocytes from LPCs.展开更多
基金support from Fundacao de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)+2 种基金the Provost’s Office for Research of the University of Sao Paulo, Grant number: 2011.1.9333.1.3 (NAPNA-USP)support from the German Research Council (IL 20/182, RI 2092/1-2, IL 20/21-1)the Sino-German Centre for the Support of Science (GZ 919)
文摘Purinergic receptors are among the first cell surface receptors expressed during embryonic development （Burnstock and Ulrich, 2011）. These are characterized based on their pharmacological properties of being activated by adenosine or purine/pyrimidine nucleotides as P1 and P2 receptors. P2 receptors are further classified by their structure as P2Y metabotropic and P2X ionotropic receptors.
基金supported by grants from the Chinese High-Tech Research&Development(863)Program(2013AA020102 and 2012AA020204)Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China(81121002)+3 种基金Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2014XZZX008 and 2014FZA7010)Zhejiang CTM Science and Technology Project(2011ZB061)Zhejiang Health Science Foundation(2016KYA148)the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia and Cancer Council of Western Australia
文摘BACKGROUND： Differentiation of liver progenitor cells（LPCs） to functional hepatocytes holds great potential to develop new strategies for hepatocyte transplantation and the screening of drug-induced cytotoxicity. However, reports on the efficient and convenient hepatic differentiation of LPCs to hepatocytes are few. The present study aims to investigate the possibility of generating functional hepatocytes from LPCs in an indirect co-culture system.METHODS： Mouse LPCs were co-cultured in Transwell plates with an immortalized human hepatic stellate cell line（HSCLi） we previously established. The morphology, expression of hepatic markers, and functions of mouse LPC-derived cells were monitored and compared with those of conventionally cultured LPCs. RESULTS： Co-culturing with HSC-Li cells induced differentiation of mouse LPCs into functional hepatocyte-like cells. The differentiated cells were morphologically transformed into hepatocyte-like cells 3 days after co-culture initiation. In addition, the differentiated cells expressed liver-specific genes and possessed hepatic functions, including glycogen storage, lowdensity lipoprotein uptake, albumin secretion, urea synthesis, and cytochrome P450 1A2 enzymatic activity.CONCLUSIONS： Our method, which employs indirect co-culture with HSC-Li cells, can efficiently induce the differentiation of LPCs into functional hepatocytes. This finding suggests that this co-culture system can be a useful method for the efficient generation of functional hepatocytes from LPCs.
