Abstract
Successful clinical application of hepatocyte transplantation has been limited by poor engraftment of the recipient liver by transplanted hepatocytes. To address the hypothesis that liver regeneration induced by an acute hepatotoxic injury promotes expansion of transplanted hepatocytes, we injected beta-galactosidase-labeled hepatocytes intrasplenically into mice 24 hr after treatment with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4) and into untreated controls. Macroscopic examination of whole liver segments identified clusters of transplanted hepatocytes uniformly spread on the capsular surface of the recipient liver and in the liver core following the distribution pattern of portal vein branches. Frozen sections showed that although the degree of initial engraftment of transplanted hepatocytes was similar in CCl4-treated and control livers, there was a fourfold increase of engrafted hepatocytes in CCl4-treated livers 10 days after transplantation which persisted to 28 days. We conclude that the number of transplanted hepatocytes increases in response to regeneration signal triggered by an acute hepatocyte-specific liver injury.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.