Abstract
During foetal life, the liver plays the important roles of connection and transient hematopoietic function. Foetal liver cells develop in an environment called a hematopoietic stem cell niche composed of several cell types, where stem cells can proliferate and give rise to mature blood cells. Embryologically, at about the third week of gestation, the liver appears, and it grows rapidly from the fifth to 10th week under WNT/β-Catenin signaling pathway stimulation, which induces hepatic progenitor cells proliferation and differentiation into hepatocytes. Development of new strategies and identification of new cell sources should represent the main aim in liver regenerative medicine and cell therapy. Cells isolated from organs with endodermal origin, like the liver, bile ducts, and pancreas, could be preferable cell sources. Furthermore, stem cells isolated from these organs could be more susceptible to differentiate into mature liver cells after transplantation with respect to stem cells isolated from organs or tissues with a different embryological origin. The foetal liver possesses unique features given the co-existence of cells having endodermal and mesenchymal origin, and it could be highly available source candidate for regenerative medicine in both the liver and pancreas. Taking into account these advantages, the foetal liver can be the highest potential and available cell source for cell therapy regarding liver diseases and diabetes.
Highlights
The use of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) or determined stem/progenitor cells isolated from adult or foetal human organs have been proposed for the regenerative medicine of the liver [49]
We have reported that coating the human biliary tree stem cells (hBTSCs) with hyaluronans (HAs), the primary constituents of all stem cell niches, could facilitate cell survival, proliferation, and, liver engraftment, given that HAs are cleared selectively by the liver [73,74,113]
The application of organoids to regenerative medicine highlights the need to face the question of whether, among mature versus stem/progenitor cells, a determined cell source is better suitable for a specific clinical need
Summary
The liver is the biggest gland in the body, with both endocrine and exocrine functions. The major exocrine secretion consists of the production of bile, while endocrine functions include the secretion of several hormones such as insulin-like growth factors, angiotensinogen, and thrombopoietin. The liver is indispensable for glycogen storage, drug detoxification, control of metabolism, regulation of cholesterol synthesis and transport, urea metabolism, and secretion of a wide number of plasma proteins including albumin and apolipoproteins [1]. Cells 2019, 8, 914 has two important properties: cardiovascular, being a vascular connection between the developing placental vessels to the heart, and haemopoietic, as a special tissue where blood stem cells reside before bone marrow development
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