RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Pregnancy exhibits a significant association with stem cell activity. However, there is yet no report on the effects of pregnancy on adipose-derived stem cells.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of pregnancy on the proliferation and differentiation of rat adipose-derived stemcells into hepatocyte-like cells.METHODS: Adipose-derived stem cells were isolated and cultured from normal and pregnant Sprague-Dawley rats, and identified. The cell proliferation was detected by cell counting kit-8. All harvested adipose-derived stem cells were cultured in hepatocyte-induced medium and induced to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells. Then the expressions of hepatocyte markers were detected at 0, 7, 14, 21 days of induction by fluorescent quantitative PCR; albumin secretion and urea synthesis were detected by using ELISA method. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Adipose-derived stem cells were successfully isolated from normal and pregnant rats, and CD45 negative staining and CD44/CD90 positive staining were observed, which was consistent with the characteristics of stem cells. Compared to the normal cells, adipose-derived stem cells from pregnant rats showed faster proliferation as well as osteogenic, adipogenic and hepatocyte-like differentiation, with the better liver function of hepatocyte-like cells. To conclude, pregnancy can promote the proliferation and differentiation of adipose-derived stem cells, which may be related to the estrogen level.