Isolation and amplification of hepatic progenitor cells from fetal mouse in vitro / 基础医学与临床

ABSTRACT

Objective To isolate and cultivate mouse hepatic progenitor cells (mHPCs) from E14.5 mouse fetal liver in vitro and induce mHPCs differentiation into cholangiocytes.Methods Isolation of mHPCs from mouse fetal liver was based on the cell surface antigen delta-like protein 1/preadipocyte factor 1 (Dlk/Pref-1) by a fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS).Then mHPCs isolated were co-cultured with/without mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) by using Transwell.The cell antigen alpha-fetoprotein (AFP), albumin (ALB) and cytokeratin19 (CK19) expression in freshly isolated DLK1+cells or co-cultured for 4 days and 6 days were observed with immunocytochemical method.Results When co-cultured with MEFs, the division and proliferation were observed in most of DLK1+ cells and grape-like aggregation was formed.Cells began to adhere to growth and began to become spindle-shaped on 4th day.The DLK1+cells isolated freshly by FACS were expressed AFP and low levels of ALB but not expressed CK19.But, these cells expressed CK 19 and weak expression of ALB on 4th day.In addition, the expression of CK19 increased and the expression of ALB almost not detected on 6th day.Conclusions Most of DLK1+ cells, isolated from E14.5 fetal livers by FACS, are proved to be mHPCs.Furthermore, these cells can proliferate quickly and differentiate into cholangiocytes by co-culture with MEFs.