RESUMEN
Objective:To investigate the effect of sodium butytate (different concentrations) on the growth and proliferation of rat liver oval cell line WB-F344, and to discuss the conditions and rules for sodium butyrate-inducd WB-F344 cells differentiation into biliary lineage in vitro. Methods: WB-F344 cells were treated with sodium butyrate (0.75, 2.25, 3.75, 4.5 mmol/L) and the cell growth and morphological changes were observed; routinely cultured WB-F344 cells were taken as control. The changes of CK19 protein expression were examined immunohistochemically after WB-F244 cells were treated with 3.75% sodium butyrate; and the expression of phenotypic markers, such as ?-glutamyltransferase (GGT) ,?4-integrin, CK19, AFP and ALB at mRNA level were determined by RT-PCR. Untreated WB-F344 cells were used as blank control. Results: We found that sodium butyrate inhibited the growth of WB-F344 cells. The optical densities were significantly decreased in 3.75 and 4.5 mmol/L groups compared with that in control group(P