Abstract
During prenatal development the liver is composed of multiple cell types with unique properties compared to their adult counterparts. We aimed to establish multilineage cultures of human fetal liver cells that could maintain stem cell and progenitor populations found in the developing liver. An aim of this study was to test if maturation of fetal hepatocytes in short-term cultures supported by epidermal growth factor and oncostatin M can improve their ability to engraft immunodeficient mice. Fetal liver cultures supported a mixture of albumin+ cytokertin-19+ hepatoblasts, hepatocytes, cholangiocytes, CD14++CD32+ liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LSECs) and CD34+CD133+ haematopoietic stem cells. Transplantation of cultured cells into uPA-NOG or TK-NOG mice yielded long-term engraftment of hepatocytes, abundant LSEC engraftment and multilineage haematopoiesis. Haematopoietic engraftment included reconstitution of B-, T- and NK-lymphocytes. Colonies of polarized human hepatocytes were observed surrounded by human LSECs in contact with human CD45+ blood cells in the liver sinusoids. Thus, fetal liver cultures support multiple cell lineages including LSECs and haematopoietic stem cells while also promoting the ability of fetal hepatocytes to engraft adult mouse livers. Fetal liver cultures and liver-humanized mice created from these cultures can provide useful model systems to study liver development, function and disease.
Highlights
The liver is composed of a diversity of cell types including hepatocytes, cholangiocytes, different types of endothelial cells and multiple lineages of blood cells
We aimed to model this interaction among hepatocytic, endothelial and haematopoietic cells in vitro in cultures using Williams’s E medium, containing supplements used for hepatocyte growth and the cytokines oncostatin M (OSM) and epidermal growth factor (EGF)
Human fetal liver cultures are described that support multiple cell lineages with minimal addition of exogenous growth factors or serum
Summary
The liver is composed of a diversity of cell types including hepatocytes, cholangiocytes (biliary epithelial cells), different types of endothelial cells and multiple lineages of blood cells. All of these cell types, and in particular their precursors, are of great interest to the field of regenerative medicine. Use of pluripotent stem cells to generate liver cells requires an understanding of liver development if these stem cells are to be used effectively. Greater knowledge of the early development of the human liver will likely inform efforts to use pluripotent stem cells to create new liver tissue
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