Inhibition of hepatic stellate cell proliferation and activation by bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells in vitro / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM: To investigate the effect of bone marrow (BM)-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) on the proliferation of hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) in vitro. METHODS: MSCs and HSCs were isolated from BM and liver respectively in Fischer 344 rats. HSCs were re-cultured on plastic and appeared activated morphologically. The coculture system was set up by transwell insert with pore size 0.4 ?m and 6-well plates. The 5th passage HSCs were cultured on the 6-well plastic plate and MSCs or buffalo rat liver cells (BRLs) or HSCs seeded on the transwell insert. Smooth muscle ?-actin (?-SMA) and desmin expression of HSCs were tested by immunocytochemistry and quantified by IBAS 2.5 software. RESULTS: After coculture for 24 h, the proliferation of HSCs was inhibited to a moderate extent by MSCs. With the coculture time lasted, the significant growth suppression of HSCs was affected by MSCs (15.7% and 30.3%) but not BRL cells in 48 h and in 72 h. After coculture for 72 h, the expression of ?-SMA in HSCs was lower in MSCs coculture system than that with BRLs or HSCs alone system (50.2% vs 90.2%, 95.6%, P